True Identities and Discovered Destinies
by Black Dragon Valkyrie
Summary: Alianda was a homeless girl living on the streets. Taylor was an extraordinary boy of unknown origins. Thorn was a bad ass to shame all bad asses. What happens when the three of them are brought together? Add in an Atlantean god, a Chthonian, and Weres. It's all just a normal day in New Orleans! Rated T, but if it goes into the M category in later chapters, warnings will be given.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer:**

Hello everyone! This is a story being co-authored by me and ToTheJourney2014. We are both really excited to see what everyone thinks of this work. Now the actual disclaimer. Neither one of us owns Dark-Hunters or any of it's characters. But the Original characters and the plot line do. Alianda belongs to ToTheJourney2014 and Taylor belongs to me.

P.S. this story is crossed over with Charmed technically, but it's mostly the Dark Hunter world.

Now on with the story! Don't forget to review! thank you!

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><p><strong><span>Chapter One:<span>**

Alianda snuggled down onto the pallet she had made for herself under the broken windows on the first floor of the abandoned building on Perdido Street. It had been a long day, filled with running errands for several different shop owners to earn some cash for food and running away from gangs of guys trying to hurt her. She yawned and stretched her body out before getting as comfortable as possible and closing her eyes. She was sound asleep within minutes.

Thorn paced the floor in front of his fireplace. Azura and Noir were up to something. He could feel it. He was waiting for Lysander, the general of his Hellchasers, and Fang, his second in command to arrive so the three of them could work out a battle plan. He looked up in shock when he heard someone walking through his halls, feeling that it is someone uninvited.

Alianda smiled as she opened her eyes to find herself standing in a grand hall. She had had dreams of castles and great battles for as long as she could remember, and it felt wonderful to finally dream of a place she could actually touch. She knew she was dreaming, yet she felt fully alert. She sighed happily, walking out of the grand hall and into smaller corridors, taking her time as she explored.

~C~

Taylor Halliwell lazily stretched his arms above his head. He had been hearing this odd noise in the back of his head all day, and it was starting to give him a headache. He had no idea what it meant or why he was getting it, but he guessed it was kind of like what a Whitelighter heard whenever a charge was in trouble. But he had Cupid blood, not Whitelighter, so he had no idea what the ringing was. So, to solve the problem, he used a spell to take him to the source of the ringing, which led to him wandering around New Orleans. Twice he almost got cornered in public by gangs, which would have been seriously bad on his part.

He raised a hand to his temples to rub at the growing headache when the ringing suddenly intensified, and he had to bite his lip to keep from crying out. He looked to his left and spotted an alley, where the sound seemed to be the strongest. Following his gut feeling, and silently praying it wasn't a demon trap, he breathed in and then let it out in exhale before stepping into the darkness.

~C~

Alianda took her time as she studied the various paintings and tapestries that were hanging on the walls. Everything about the castle, and she could tell she was in a castle, seemed so ancient yet ageless at the same time. She gasped softly as she heard someone approaching, some inner instinct telling her that she wasn't supposed to be there. She saw a door at the end of the corridor open and spotted a man stepping through the doorway. He narrowed his eyes at her, yet she felt no fear. She gave him a small smile and wave before she simply disappeared.

Thorn growled as the young woman disappeared. He had barely gotten the chance to get a look at her, much less find out what kind of being she was. He stepped back into his office and slammed the door shut behind him.

Alianda stretched her arms over her head as she slowly woke up. She sat up and looked outside through the broken windows just above her pallet on the floor, hearing someone in the alley that ran beside the building. She bit her lower lip as she decided what the best thing would be for her to do, finally deciding to investigate. She told herself she could stay silent enough that whoever was prowling around wouldn't be able to hear her while she watched to find out if they found her hiding place. Taking a deep breath and letting it out slowly, she slipped out through the hole in the bottom of the warehouse door and slipped into the blackness of the alley.

Taylor shook his head in disbelief. The ringing had suddenly stopped, and he had no idea why. He sighed and ran a hand through his black and dark brown hair. He never did get why his sisters thought his hair was interesting. Sure, it was darker that the richest earth, but it was short and curled just at his ears. It almost always made his head itch. Shaking the random thought from his head, he stuffed his hands into the pocket of his white leather jacket and continued down the alley. He wanted to find out what had made the ringing stop and why it had even begun in the first place.

Taylor paused about halfway through the alley when he heard a very soft crunching sound. It was something he wouldn't have heard if he had been a normal human, but being what he was had it's perks. He flared out his senses while continuing to walk at a slower pace. 'What was it?' he wondered. He worried slightly that it was something waiting to pounce at him and make him its next meal. He silently clenched his jaw. Whoever it was, was not going to get him. He had a family to return home to and protect. He wasn't going to die off in the middle of a place where his family couldn't find him. His hands clenched into fists inside his pockets, ready to strike at the first sign of trouble.

Alianda held her breath as she listened to the person coming closer. She bent her knees, reaching down to pick up one of the boards that that been broken off from the door frame behind her. She held it up, ready to strike as soon as the person came close enough. She knew enough from years of living on the streets that anyone sneaking around an alley was up to no good. She tightened her grip on the board as she heard the person come closer, swinging as hard as she could and feeling a slight satisfaction as she felt the board connect with her target.

Taylor felt a presence and something being swung at him toward his rib cage. His right arm shot out and blocked what he realized was a piece of wood, which shattered as it came into contact with his side. It was good to know his magic was at least protecting his skin. He looked down to see a young girl. Now this was something he hadn't been expecting. She was a bit smaller and skinnier than his muscular six foot four build but not sickly skinny. It was clear that she was homeless but knew enough to take care of herself. She had a look of total and unexpected shock written all over her face as he stared at her, and he was glad that he had remembered to wear his dark sunglasses for once.

Alianda stared at the young man in shock, her mouth falling open at the sight of the shattered board. She swallowed hard, unable to take her eyes off of him. Still, he was a boy and was blundering through the alley next to where she lived. Her eyes narrowed as her hands clenched into fists. She wasn't about to let him take her blanket or home away from her. She didn't have much, but she had earned every little bit she had. Her stomach rumbled as she thought about the small amount of food she had left from the last supply she had bought from the money she made working for the store owners. "Get out of here!" she suddenly yelled at the boy. She swung her fists at his face as hard as she could, having more power than a normal human without being aware that she did. "I won't let you take my stuff... or me!"

Taylor's eyes widened as her first swing landed solidly on his jaw, quickly stepping back before the second punch could touch him. He held his hands up in front of him, palms out. "Whoa there, tiger." He spoke calmly. "I'm not here to take anything." He glanced up and down her smaller body without moving his head, impressed that she knew how to throw such a good punch. If he had to guess her age, he'd put her at fifteen or sixteen... seventeen at the most. He had heard the growl of her stomach when he had been closer to her and realized the poor girl must be starving. He knew she probably wouldn't believe him, but he didn't even really know what he was doing down this alley.

Alianda kept her fists up, ready to attack the boy again if she needed to. "What are you staring at?" she questioned. "If you're not here to take anything, then get out of here!"

Taylor shook his head, moving a careful step back toward her. "I'm not sure why I'm here," he admitted. He gestured toward her stomach. "You sound hungry. Why don't you let me buy you something to eat?"

Alianda held her chin up, pride burning in her eyes. "I have food." She spoke defensively. "I don't need or want anyone's help." She turned to duck back through the hole in the bottom of the door but stopped as her vision blurred. She reached out, almost blind, to grab the door frame. "Whoa..." she whispered.

Taylor saw her sway on her feet and quickly came up behind her, steadying her by gently holding her shoulders. "Are you all right?" Judging by her display of pride she was obviously a bit stubborn, but he still had to ask. The girl may have been able to catch him by surprise once, but he had a feeling she wouldn't be able to do the same the next time someone came down the alley... especially if that someone actually intended to find and hurt her. The very thought of someone doing that caused a slight growl to emerge from deep inside him. He was determined nothing like that would happen as long as he had anything to do with it. He picked her up into his arms and spun on his heels, making his way toward the street.

Alianda gasped as the boy swept her up into his arms. She pounded her fists against his chest as she twisted her body to try to get him to drop her. "Let me go!" she shouted. She growled as the dizziness she was feeling increased, swallowing against the dryness in her throat. She continued to struggle even as the fighting caused her to get weaker. "Let me go!" she shouted again but without as much strength behind the words.

Taylor didn't react to the punches to his chest but noticed she was getting weaker. "Save your strength," he advised before covering her eyes and teleporting to a different alley. It was one right next to a restaurant he had found while walking around earlier. He guessed it was more of a bar than a restaurant, but he didn't really care. He carried the girl inside and ignored the odd look he got from the man standing at the door. He found an empty booth and put her on the side closer to the wall, sitting down next to her. Feeling her forehead with the back of one hand, he discovered that she didn't have a fever. He sighed a little with relief, realizing that she was most likely just dizzy from exhaustion. He got the waitress's attention and ordered gumbo and two orders of red beans and rice.

The waitress nodded to him, taking the order and walking away after leaving two glasses of water on the table in front of them.

Taylor looked around, studying the staff and patrons of the bar as he waited for the food to be brought to them. He realized with a shock that almost everyone working had some of the most beautiful bodies and features he had ever seen. He frowned a little, biting his lip as he tried to figure out what felt like an obvious puzzle that he should know the solution of.

Alianda licked her dry lips, reaching for the glass of water and drinking almost all of it in one swallow. She studied him as she choked, coughing harshly from drinking too fast. After getting herself under control, she put the glass down. Her eyes never left his face, not paying any attention to the people around them. "Why are you doing this?" she asked him quietly. "No one is this nice without wanting something in return."

Taylor turned to look back at her, temporarily forgetting about the extraordinary looking staff. He simply shrugged his shoulders. "I'm not completely sure," he answered honestly. "I just felt like I should. Besides, not everyone always asks for anything in return. Believe it or not." He rested his chin on his hand as he shifted his gaze to in front of him. "Trust me. I know what it's like to be in your position. If a random stranger suddenly brings you out of the hell you've been forced to live with to survive, you jump at the opportunity." He passed her his glass of water. "Believe me. I was just as stubborn as you are, and living in almost the same conditions, except I was a lot younger when the stranger came to me." He glanced to his right, noticing two of the workers whispering to each other as they cast glances in his direction. He sighed, wondering if he was going to have to try to find a way to explain that he wasn't an escaped prisoner or something. He had had to do things like that in the past.

"I could almost swear it's him," the man who had been guarding the door said to the other man, "but the power level feels a little different... and altered."

Taylor raised an eyebrow as he heard the words, wondering why they were checking his power level and how they even knew to do something like that.

"It can't be him," the second man answered from his position behind the bar. "He never leaves his island, and I can't see him appearing as a teenage boy." He scoffed. "The kid's no more than a whelp." He sniffed the air, growling a little. "I smell witch on him." He nodded toward Alianda as he wiped down the top of the bar. "Get a whiff of the female. She smells even stranger."

"Whatever," the man from the door replied. He sighed. "Aimee will be able to tell us all about them after she spends a few more minutes with them. She's good at sniffing out anyone's real identity." He narrowed his eyes slightly as he continued to watch the two kids. "Whoever they are, neither of them is human. If they make one wrong move, they won't leave here alive."

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><p>read and Review please!<p>

We can't wait to hear what you think!


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two:**

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><p><strong><span>Previously:<span>**

**_"Whoever they are, neither of them is human. If they make one wrong move, they won't leave here alive."_**

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><p>Alianda shifted around on the bench, her arm rubbing against Taylor's as she moved and reached for the glass of water he had set in front of her. "Thanks," she muttered before drinking it all down just as she had her own. She licked her lips as she looked back up at him, not having heard anything the two men at the bar had said. "What's your name?" she asked quietly. "I'm not going to keep thinking of you as a random stranger, especially if you're buying me dinner."<p>

Taylor smirked a bit at Alianda's question. "Taylor. Taylor Halliwell." He had to fight back a laugh as he mentally moved three glasses out of the bartender's reach, listening to the man becoming confused when he turned back around. Taylor fiddled with the red ring on his middle finger, it was a duplicate of his adopted father's ring, as he thought over what the two men had said. They could smell the witch in him but not the Cupid. He frowned a little. They had also said something about the girl not being human. He was almost tempted to take off his sunglasses to look at her straight so he could see what they meant, but he didn't dare. There was no use in scaring her off. He saw the waitress coming toward them with the food he had ordered, realizing she must be Aimee. He also remembered what the two men had said about her being able to sniff out what someone was. Taylor had to suppress a smile as he muttered a spell under his breath before Aimee got close to their table to close off the young woman's sense of smell.

Aimee's eyes widened as her sense of smell suddenly disappeared. She almost dropped her tray, something that never happened, as she glanced around to see if any of the others were affected. She caught the look on the older teen's face. It was both protective and contained hidden amusement. She knew he must have done something, but she couldn't figure out what it was. She shook her head slightly and forced a pleasant smile onto her face as she closed the distance to the table and began setting the dishes on the table in front of them. "Can I get you anything else?" she asked.

Alianda's stomach growled loudly as she shook her head, causing her to blush with embarrassment. She frowned and brought her knees up against her chest, wrapping her arms around them and burying her face on top of them. "I can't go anywhere," she muttered. While Taylor was distracted by the waitress, she slipped off the bench they were sitting on and out the other side of the booth. She made her way quickly toward the door, frowning when the man guarding the door blocked her path. "Move," she whispered. "I've got to get out of here."

Aimee noticed the girl leaving but did nothing to try to stop her, keeping the male teenager's attention focused on herself as she waited patiently for him to let her know if there was anything else he wanted to order. She motioned with one hand at her side for her brother, Dev, to stop the girl at the door. She knew he would take her into one of their back rooms and find out the truth of what was going on with the two teenagers. She didn't like being robbed of her smell and wasn't about to let either of them get away with attacking her.

Taylor's lip curved slightly. "First of all, tell your guard dog to get away from my companion. Second, it's rather rude to start pointing fingers and accusing us of being such bizarre things." There was an edge to his voice now that made him seem older, much more wiser than he had first seemed. There was something deeply unsettling about him as he stood up from the booth. "Wouldn't want someone to get hurt now, would you?" he whispered quietly as he walked past Aimee to the door. He waited until he was across the room to release the spell he had cast on her, making sure his scent was mixed in with that of the other patrons and staff. He himself could not pick up the scents of different animals that he hadn't noticed before. He considered the idea of shapeshifters but quickly crossed them off his mental list of possibilities. Shapeshifters didn't have any kind of distinctive animal scent to them.

Dev chuckled as he watched the kid. "Nice bravado, kid," he commented before nodding toward the sign that hung on the far wall. "But you're failing to follow our one rule." The sign read, 'Come in peace or leave in pieces.'. He glared at the smaller boy. "You attacked my sister, and I want to know what you did to her."

Alianda growled, still weak and getting weaker since she still hadn't eaten anything, struggling against the hold Dev had on her. She lifted up one leg and slammed the heel of her foot against the instep of his foot, smiling in satisfaction as he howled in pain before crying out in pain herself as he wrenched her left arm up behind her back. She not only could feel the bones break, she could hear them as well. Her skin turned an ashen color as she fought to stay conscious.

Aimee hurried over. "Damn it, Dev! I wanted you to scare them, not kill them!" She growled, yanking the girl out of her brother's arms and into her own. She easily scooped the girl up, holding her in her a cradle-carry as she studied the boy. "Look. Whatever you are, no one can really hurt you here unless you break our one rule. This place is called Sanctuary for a reason. Any supernatural creature can come here without fear of being in danger while they are here. We protect any as long as they don't cause trouble." She made no effort to hide the fact that she was probing the boy as she studied him. "You're some kind of a witch that we've never encountered before... and a demigod of some kind." She frowned a little. "There's something else, but I can't tell what it is." She smirked. "You smell kind of like Eros but a little different."

"What about the girl?" Dev inquired, reaching out and putting his hand against the boy's chest as he moved to try to take the girl from Aimee. He shook his head in a silent warning for the boy to stay back.

Aimee looked down and studied the girl's half-conscious form. "She's a lot more difficult to read. I sense powers of a god in her, but they're being blocked by something."

Taylor let out a growl. "You _mind_? Trying to heal the girl you hurt, asshole." Anyone who knew him knew that he was dangerous when angry. Taylor shoved the man's hand off him. "And I'm no 'whelp' as I seem to have been dubbed," he muttered as he cautiously stepped up to one side of Aimee. Taking the younger girl's arm gingerly, he started a quiet chant in an ancient tongue as he waved a hand over the girl's injury.

Alianda grit her teeth and crushed her lips shut to keep from screaming as the bones inside her arm were magically moved to the right places, the flesh covering them healing. She clutched Taylor's free hand like a lifeline while Aimee's softly stroked her hair.

Once the injury was healed, and Alianda's skin had gained back a bit of color, Taylor stopped. He almost stumbled to the floor himself as he pulled away, muttering to himself. "I don't even know her name." His face was a bit red from spending that much energy for one wound. He made a mental note to himself to study more healing with Leo when he got back home.

Dev stared at the boy in disbelief. The teen didn't seem to have any fear for himself at all, only for the girl. He looked from one of them to the other, reaching out and helping the boy get himself steady on his own feet. "Who is she, and why are you so protective of her?" he asked.

Aimee continued to gently stroke the girl's hair, turning and carrying her behind the bar and leaving Dev to talk to the boy. She carried the girl through the kitchen and behind a secret door that led to a set of stairs to the upper levels of the building. She carried the girl down the hall of the third floor and into an unoccupied bedroom, laying her down gently on the bed. "I'll bring your food up here," she said, promising the girl. "What's your name?"

Alianda stared at the other woman before remembering what Taylor had told her about unexpected strangers. She sighed, curling up on her side and wishing Taylor was there with her but knowing the man wouldn't allow him to come upstairs until he had some answers. "I'm Alianda," she whispered. She studied Aimee carefully. "What are you?"

Aimee chuckled, her eyes sparkling mischievously as she leaned over to whisper in Alianda's ear. "I'm a bear."

Alianda stared at her with wide eyes, completely and utterly surprised. "A-a-a BEAR?!" Her jaw felt as if it had just dropped out of its socket.

~C~

Taylor coughed to clear his throat before speaking up. "I don't know. I literally met her five minutes before we came in here, and your sister took her away before she could tell me her name." He stood up to his full height when he didn't feel like he was going to face palm the floor anymore. "And I'm not sure why I'm so protective of her. I just am."

Dev nodded thoughtfully. "What are you?" he asked. "And no bull shit. I know you're not human, even without Aimee letting me know you're some kind of witch and a demigod or something. I want a straight answer about what you are and whether we should be on the lookout for any trouble. Is anyone after either of you?"

Taylor sighed, deciding it would probably be best to just tell Dev the truth. "Fine. I'll tell you what I am... if you'll tell me what you are first."

Dev chuckled, clapping Taylor roughly on the back and almost knocking him to the floor without meaning to. "I think I like you, whelp." He glanced around to make sure there weren't any humans within hearing distance. "My name's Dev, and I'm a bear." He smirked. "Your turn. Spill."

"Huh?!" Taylor felt his jaw go slack. "You said no bull shit! So I'm expecting the same thing!"

Dev laughed wholeheartedly. "It's true."

Taylor gave him a skeptical look. "What are you, a were-bear or something? Because I've fought were-wolves, and they're a pain!" But he decided to come clean, then maybe he'd be able to see the girl. "Truth be told, Aimee was right on the first two. I'm a mix of Wiccan witch, Cupid, demigod, and dragon demon. Cupids are a lot different from Eros, although he is the poster child of what we do. No one knows which god is my parent." He sighed. " And dragon demons are rare to find nowadays and have even fewer descendants. I got bit by one several years back, and it injected me with its venom. So now I've got it running through my veins."

Dev stared at him. "You're a mutt," he muttered, teasing the boy. "What's your name, whelp?" He motioned to Jasyn, who was the one manning the bar that night. "Get me a couple of beers." He was muttering to himself as he studied Taylor. "Two demigods. That can't be good." He frowned. "I should probably contact Ash. He needs to know there are demigods in town." He picked up the beers Jasyn placed in front of him and handed one of them to Taylor. "What's your name?"

Taylor stared at the beer bottle in his hand. Technically he was underage, but he shrugged it off. It wasn't like he hadn't drank before. He took a swig of the alcohol before answering. "It's not mutt or whelp. It's Taylor, Taylor Halliwell." He thought about what Dev had muttered. "And who's Ash, if you don't mind me asking?" He hoped it wasn't someone he would have to worry about stalking him home to San Francisco and getting his family involved. He had a feeling he was already going to be in **_so_** much trouble when he got home. Disappearing all of a sudden for several hours and then coming back with a mysterious girl just spelled trouble.

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><p>And that's chapter two! thanks goes out to those who favorited and reviewed this story!<p>

Review and let us now how we're doing!


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3:**

Thank you to everyone who has faved, followed, reviewed or simply read this story!

Now on with the next chapter!

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><p><strong><span>Previously:<span>**

**_Taylor took a swig of the alcohol before answering. "It's not mutt or whelp. It's Taylor, Taylor Halliwell." He thought about what Dev had muttered. "And who's Ash, if you don't mind me asking?"_**

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><p>Dev shook his head. "You've got some pretty good ears on you, whel... Taylor." He smirked. "Force of habit when it comes to those younger than me. Sorry." He glanced around before coming to a decision. "I think Ash definitely needs to know about the two of you, but if I bring him here it'll cause chaos." He chuckled. "Not that I don't enjoy that every once in a while just to see the riff raff scatter." He glanced over at Jasyn. "Holler at Wren to come watch the door for me. I'm going to take the kids to meet Ash." He waited until Jasyn left to get Wren before leading Taylor behind the bar, through the kitchen and secret door, and up the back steps. He followed Aimee's scent to the room where she had taken the girl.<p>

Aimee didn't react when Dev opened the door, knowing who was there before they stepped inside. "She's sleeping, I think," she said, speaking with her back to them. "She kind of freaked a little when I told her we're bears, but I got her calmed down and fed her." She frowned a little, reaching out and brushing some hair back from the girl's face. "She sleeps strange. I'd swear she's not breathing."

"Don't feel bad. My cousin, Melinda, does the same thing for whatever reason." Taylor said offhandedly as he moved to the side of the bed to look down at her sleeping form. "Did she tell you her name?" he asked quietly.

Aimee gave a soft smile. "Alianda."

Taylor nodded then looked up at Dev, subconsciously pushing his sunglasses up more. "You didn't answer my question. I'm not going anywhere unless you tell me, and neither is Alianda."

Dev rolled his eyes. "Ash is an enigma. No one is really sure what he is, and he isn't very forthcoming. But he'll be able to tell in seconds what both of you are and whether you're a threat or not. He's the leader of a group of protectors around the world and calls himself a wrangler." He narrowed his eyes slightly. "And you'll come with me to meet him, or I'll just send him after you. It's your choice, but either way you'll be meeting him."

Alianda let out one sigh and then did stop breathing all together as her consciousness left her body and traveled back to the castle she had been in before Taylor had woke her up earlier. Her skin turned almost translucent as her body systems all shut down, her body temperature dropping quickly.

Aimee gasped as the hand she was holding turned to ice. She jumped up from the bed. "What the /**_hell_**/ is going on?" she asked. "That's not normal, even for our world."

Taylor instantly crouched down by Alianda's side and felt her pulse. It was faint but there. He'd only heard of something like this. "Dream walking," he whispered to himself. He looked up at Dev. "If this Ash person is as good at figuring out what someone is as you claim, we'd better find him quick so we will know if this is natural for her or not."

Dev nodded, moving to scoop Alianda into his arms. He turned to lead the way out of Sanctuary, growling a little when the bedroom door opened. "Oh," he muttered. "It's you." He stepped back, not bothered at all by the dead weight of the girl in his arms, and let the other person inside the room.

Fang smiled at Aimee, wrapping his arms around her and giving her a long kiss. "I've been looking for you," he whispered when he pulled back. "Thorn has us on high alert. I wanted to make sure everything is okay here." He looked into his mate's eyes. "You are okay. Right?"

Aimee smiled and nodded. "We've made a couple of new friends and are trying to unravel a mystery around them, but yes. I'm fine." She motioned toward Taylor and Alianda.

Fang's eyes widened as he caught sight of the girl. "No way..." He shook his head, staring up at Dev and then over at Aimee. "She's got Thorn in an uproar. She somehow got in his castle a few hours ago. None of us can figure out how she breached the security of the place." He sighed. "He's gonna want her head."

Taylor instantly growled at the new stranger. No one was going anywhere near Alianda to harm her, not even over his ashes. The room became thick with tension, and the light above them flickered from the penetration of magic in the air.

Dev didn't stop him when he took Alianda from him, watching as Taylor held the girl's body close to his own. The teen boy looked ready to murder someone.

Fang had a look of shock painted on his face as he took a step away from the teenage boy. "What the hell's your problem, mutt?" He could smell the mix of blood but wasn't too certain what all it was.

Dev sighed. 'This is going to be a long night,' he thought to himself before speaking out loud. "He's protective of her. He was ready to take on the whole bar when I stopped her from leaving earlier."

Aimee moved forward and placed a gentle hand on Taylor's arm, looking into his eyes. "Relax, Taylor. No one is going to hurt her. I promise you. Fang is my mate, and he works for Thorn." She sighed. "Thorn is a demon in every sense of the word. He's cruel and mean whenever he has to be, but he won't hurt her without good reason." She gave his arm a tender squeeze. "If she's getting into his domain somehow, we need to find out why." She glanced over her shoulder at Dev. "We need to get her to Acheron." She glanced back at Taylor and saw the look of confusion on his face. "Acheron is his real name, but a lot of people call him Ash."

Taylor's head tilted slightly to one side as he tried to figure out why the name sounded almost familiar. He shook the thought aside for now and looked between Aimee and Dev. "Then what the hell are we waiting for, the yellow brick road?" he asked sarcastically.

The two bears couldn't help cracking smiles at Taylor's humor. Dev turned around and started walking out of the room with everyone else following after him.

Fang came up beside Dev. "What the hell is this kid? I can feel the powers of a god coming from him, but he seems more... human."

Dev smirked and shook his head at his brother-in-law. "Demigod, Fang, and no one know whose kid he is. To top it off, he's also a Wiccan witch, a cupid, and a dragon demon."

Fang's eyes grew large at this news. When he looked back at the teen, he was greeted by the sight of a large grin that showed several pointed teeth and dark sunglasses that seemed to be holding almost too many secrets.

Dev pulled out his cell phone to call Acheron as he led the way out the back door of Sanctuary, stopping short when the other man appeared before them.

"I sensed it was urgent," Acheron replied to the unasked question. A hint of a smile played across his face as he looked down at Alianda's unconscious form. "I think we'll leave her to keep giving Thorn hell for a while. He deserves it." He looked up at Taylor, not bothering to hide the fact that he knew almost everything about him thanks to the fact that he always knew everyone's history and destiny from the moment he saw them. "Take off those sunglasses, Taylor Halliwell. We're going to find out who your father is."

Taylor's jaw clenched in irritation. He didn't show his eyes for several reasons, which he guessed this guy already knew. 'And why should I take mine off when he's wearing them himself?' He thought. "You first." To tell the truth, Taylor could sense the power rolling off this guy and was trying not to be slightly intimidated. But he was not one to follow orders unless from someone he knew and respected.

Dev tried not to face palm. 'Ok, the kid's got a good bravo, but he's in way over his head now to try to act like a tough guy.'

Acheron growled threateningly. "You don't give the orders around here, Taylor." He took Alianda out of the boy's arms and cradled her easily on one of his strong arms. He laid his fingertips on her forehead for a few seconds.

Alianda stirred in Acheron's arms, snuggling closer to him. It was obvious she had returned from wherever she had gone and was now sleeping peacefully.

Acheron turned his attention back to Taylor. "Don't make me break those glasses. Take them off."

Taylor ground his teeth together. He had been momentarily amazed that Acheron had brought Alianda's consciousness back from wherever it had wandered off to, but he wouldn't admit that for a moment. Growling low in his throat, he almost ripped the sunglasses off of his face, bright lavender eyes glaring up at the taller male. "**_Happy_**?" he asked sarcastically.

Acheron's eyes widened in amazement behind his own sunglasses as he stared at Taylor. "Savitar," he whispered. "Damn it." He cleared his throat and spoke louder, knowing that no one with the exception of possibly Taylor had heard what he said. "Extremely," he replied to Taylor's sarcastic question.

Alianda yawned, stirring around in Acheron's arms as she began to wake up. "Acheron?" she questioned, her voice thick with sleep. She didn't realize she had recognized the person holding her, forgetting she knew him moments later as she woke up fully. She growled, punching the man holding her in the jaw and kicking out with her feet. Her feet landed solidly on Fang's chest, causing him to fall on his ass as she flipped backward out of Acheron's arms.

"Whoa!" Aimee responded to the attack. She quickly wrapped her arms around Alianda and held on tight. "Calm down!"

Acheron sighed, the bruise Alianda's punch had put on his cheek already disappearing. He glanced over at Dev. "She can stay here for a while, right? Nicolette won't throw a fit?"

Dev shook his head. "I'll handle Mom," he replied. He glanced over at Taylor before looking back at Acheron. "What about the whelp?" He smirked at Taylor, unable to resist teasing him, even when the teen death glared at him. He liked the kid.

"He'll have to go back to San Francisco before he gives his family a heart attack, but he'll be back," Acheron answered. He held up a hand when he saw the look on Taylor's face. "Alianda is in no condition to travel anywhere. She'll be well cared for here and in better shape than she's ever been when you come back."

Taylor gave up his argument when he realized Ash was right on both accounts. He would be lucky if his Aunt Piper didn't blow him up when he got back, and Alianda wouldn't be up for the magical traveling he'd have to do. He was curious about this Savitar character, though. If discovering he was Taylor's father surprised a powerful full blood god like Acheron, he had to wonder who or what Savitar was. He decided he could try looking him up later; maybe an ancestor of the Halliwell line had met him or something in the past. He turned away from Ash to Alianda, who was half struggling to get out of Aimee's arms but stopped when he stood in front of her. "I promise I'll be back," he said in response to the look he saw on her face. He took off his cupid's ring and placed it in Alianda's hand, wrapping her fingers around the cool metal as he smirked down at her. "Nice sneak attack, by the way," he commented, referring to how she had gotten loose from Acheron and had knocked Fang on his furry ass.

Alianda bit her lower lip as she continued to stare at Taylor. Somehow over the past hour or so that she had known him, she had begun to trust him. Her lip trembled at the thought of him leaving her alone, especially when she didn't know any of the people around them. She knew Aimee had said they were bears, but she couldn't bring herself to believe that. She had never known anything magical before and wasn't sure she believed it was real. She sighed softly, deciding that she would just slip away as soon as she was alone.

Aimee loosened her grip on Alianda a little as the girl stopped struggling. She noticed the ring and looked at Taylor. "What is that you gave her?"

Taylor looked up to Aimee. "Basically the medium for my Cupid powers." he almost laughed at the confused look on Alianda. "Despite the popular belief, we don't run around in diapers with little bows and arrows."

Alianda couldn't keep in the laugh the crept up her throat. "I'd imagine how ridiculous you'd look in one."

Taylor grinned. "That's Eros' job. He is the poster child."

Dev stepped over and helped Fang back to his feet, chuckling. "She got you good, wolf." He glanced at Acheron. "We won't keep you any longer. I know you're busy. We'll keep an eye on Alianda until you decide the best thing to do."

Taylor listened to their conversation, hoping to pick up any hint Acheron might drop about either Savitar or what he planned to do with Alianda.

Acheron nodded silently at Dev. He knew he could trust the bears and the wolf. Without a word, he disappeared and left the five of them alone.

Alianda's eyes widened in horror as Acheron disappeared. "This isn't happening," she murmured under her breath. She took full advantage of the fact that Aimee had almost completely loosened her hold on her and elbowed the woman in the stomach. As soon as Aimee doubled over, Alianda took off running. She disappeared around the far corner seconds later, the food that Aimee had given her earlier giving her the strength she needed to keep running. Soon she was weaving her way through the crowds that were still milling around on Bourbon Street, thankful to be able to blend in somewhere so she wouldn't be found.

Dev let out a loud curse. "Fang and I will go after her." He held up his hand when he saw Taylor getting ready to protest. "We know the city. Aimee will go back inside and wait for us. You have to get back to wherever it is you came from before we have trouble with them." He growled a little. "We don't want to have to hurt anyone, Taylor, but we protect what's ours."

Aimee laid a gentle hand on Taylor's shoulders. "You're part of what's ours," she whispered. "You and Alianda. We won't let anything happen to her."

Taylor sighed in defeat. "Fine. I'll be back in a day at the latest, even if I have to break out of the house." He took a couple of steps back from the group. "Later then." He grinned as he disappeared in a flash of violet colored lightning.

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><p>read and review please! Let us (ToTheJourney2014 and I) know how we are doing!<p> 


	4. Chapter 4

Thank you to those who reviewed! Thanks a bunch for wanting more of this story!

But I will warn you now, there is a bit in this chapter that hints at things that belong in the rated M category, so read at your own caution.

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><p><em><strong>Previously:<strong>_

**_"Fine. I'll be back in a day at the latest, even if I have to break out of the house." He took a couple of steps back from the group. "Later then." He grinned as he disappeared in a flash of violet colored lightning._**

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><p>To say Taylor was welcomed back with open arms would be a lie. Getting socked in the face with a potion that temporarily bound his traveling powers, and getting the lecture of the century from his mother and both of his aunts was the truth. It took almost all of his will power not to groan out loud and interrupt them, but he knew better. As the saying went: hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.<p>

Taylor's cousin, Wyatt, the twice-blessed and second oldest of their generation next to Taylor himself, simply stood at the door and shook his head while the older boy was bombarded with question after question about where and what he had been doing for the past several hours. He crossed his arms over his chest as he continued to watch, grimacing a little in sympathy. He almost intervened, but then he decided that he didn't want to be the one on the receiving end of the lashing tongues.

~C~

Alianda frowned as she was pulled along with the crowd on Bourbon Street. She had no idea what had been happening to her over the past few hours, but she couldn't stop the trembling in her hands. She was hoping she was imagining things, but it felt like everyone she passed was staring at her. It was making her even more nervous. She wasn't sure what to do, and the shaking was getting worse the longer she walked instead of better.

Thorn frowned to himself, sitting up straighter on his throne. He had decided to stay in his throne room instead of his office, because the throne room seemed to be where the intruder appeared each time she came into his castle. But something was wrong. He felt something... familiar... in the air, something he hadn't felt in centuries. "It can't be," he muttered under his breath. "There's no way." Despite his insistence that what he felt couldn't be possible, he closed his eyes and focused on the source as he disappeared and took himself to it. He smirked as he saw the teenage girl hurrying down Bourbon Street, blood red horns sticking up through her white blonde hair. "Your horns are showing," he whispered into her ear, keeping himself invisible for the time being.

Alianda jumped in surprise and turned to look behind her. Not seeing anyone directly behind her, she turned forward again and walked faster while she started muttering. "I'm going crazy..." She clutched Taylor's large ring tight in her hand, hoping it would provide her some sense of security. She was surprised when she suddenly felt a wave of comfort and warmth through her heart, almost as if Taylor could feel her distress and was trying to comfort her. She weaved in and out of the crowd, not realizing that she was picking up speed and soon moving faster than normal for any human. "First I meet people who claim to be bears, then I see a man disappear literally into thin air, then I'm hearing voices, and now I'm feeling /**his**/ concern for me?" She felt very confused and couldn't figure out what was happening to her.

A confused look crossed Thorn's face as he stayed invisible while he continued to follow her. He wasn't sure what she was talking about, but she had definitely caught his attention. He had recognized her as soon as he had come to her as the one who had been breaking into his castle, and he recognized her for other reasons that he had yet to figure out. He decided to stay with her.

Alianda finally got too overwhelmed by the crowd and ducked into the nearest alley to try to catch both her breath and her bearings. She knew she couldn't afford to get lost in the city. It would only make her already complicated situation worse. She leaned against the brick wall of an abandoned store and put her hands on her knees as she caught her breath.

"Nice addition to your already hot look, Alianda," a voice spoke from deeper in the alley.

Alianda groaned, straightening up as she turned to face the owner of the voice she recognized. "Leave me alone, Davin. I'm not in the mood."

"You're never in the mood, and I'm getting tired of waiting," Davin responded with a growl. He stepped closer to her, purposefully pressing her back against the wall. He licked his lips as he studied her, reaching up and grabbing one of her blood red horns loosely in one of his hands. "Excellent work," he muttered. "They almost look real."

Alianda growled and smacked his hand away. "Leave me alone!" Though she did quietly admit to herself that she was both confused and curious about the horns. Davin wasn't then first person who had pointed them out to her, if she was to believe she was hearing the voices of people who weren't really there.

Davin ground his teeth together and used one hand to sharply raise her chin so she was forced to look up at him. The action caused her head to hit the very solid wall behind her. She could already feel a headache coming on. For some reason, she had the impression that someone was thinking about her again and baring their teeth in anger.

The shine from the object in Alianda's hand caught Davin's attention. "What's this?" he asked, reaching for it while keeping her head and body pinned against the wall.

Alianda growled as she struggled against the hold Davin had on her, feeling the growl echoed in her heart. She fought as hard as she could to keep him from taking Taylor's ring from her, seeing stars as he grabbed the hair just above her forehead and slammed her head back against the walls. She slumped against him as she saw stars, her body rubbing against his as her knees buckled.

"I always knew you had a thing for me, Alianda," Davin commented with a chuckle as he pocketed the obviously expensive ruby ring. "But damn, you don't have to throw yourself at me." He laughed again as he scooped her easily into his arms and threw her over his shoulder. He slapped her hard on the ass as he started carrying her off to the abandoned building he and his friends had been calling home for the past several months.

Alianda screamed, clenching her hands into fists and hitting Davin on the back as he carried her through three different alleys before he came to the abandoned building. She tried to grab the door frame, or anything else she could, to keep him from taking her inside but failed. She screamed again as he threw her down on the one filthy mattress that was inside, kicking out as hard as she could and smiling to herself in satisfaction as he stumbled backward. She flipped herself quickly to her feet, turning to run in the opposite direction and heading for the first window she saw.

"Get her!" Davin shouted, nodding in satisfaction as three of his gang members grabbed her. He motioned for them to pin her down on top of the mattress, laughing as one got each arm and the third held her head still by grabbing those strange looking horns. He knelt down on her legs and pulled out the large knife he carried, using it to cut off her clothes. He licked his lips in anticipation, not bothered in the slightest by the small pools of blood pooling in various places on her body as his knife nicked her skin while he was cutting away her clothes.

Thorn growled in frustration as he lost sight of the teenage girl. He only knew of four beings, besides himself, who could move that quickly. Two of them were imprisoned inside their castle deep inside of Azmodea, and the other two had disappeared centuries before. He heard a scream and tried to focus on it but for some reasons he was having difficulty pinpointing the girl's location. It was as if he was experiencing emotion... never a good thing for a being like him. It always got in the way and complicated things, wrecking havoc with his powers.

~C~

Taylor felt his teeth sharpen, lengthening as he bit his lower lip to keep from growling and alerting everyone in the family that he was in the attic and flipping through the pages of the Book of Shadows. He had to find something to get back to New Orleans. He had felt Alianda in trouble and wasn't about to stand by and let something happen to her. A light rapping of knuckles against the woods door caused the nineteen year old's head to snap up, smiling slightly as he watched a young man enter. "What do you want?" he demanded, grinding his teeth together as he turned his attention back to the Book of Shadows.

The brunette shook his head at the older teen, seeing that Wyatt had been right after all when he said that Taylor was on edge. The other teenager had been silent, glaring at nothing in particular, for several hours. The younger boy walked forward until he stood over the book, watching as the lavender-eyed boy flipped through its pages. Christopher Perry Halliwell, like his aunt Phoebe Halliwell, had the gift of empathy. He could sense Taylor's anger, frustration, and fear as he pulled an object out of his pocket and placed it on the book before his cousin could turn the next page.

Taylor paused and looked down at the object. It was a glass vial that was filled with a poison green colored liquid that had flecks of black and white floating and swirling around inside of it. "What is this?" Picking the vial up between the first two fingers of his hand and his thumb, Taylor swirled the contents to mix it up even more.

Christopher sighed. "You know what it is."

Taylor immediately dropped the vial onto the yellowed pages of the family's magic book as if it had burned him, quickly backing away with his lips pulled back into a silent snarl.

Christopher sighed again. "You don't have much of a choice, Tay. Whatever it is you're trying to do, you're not going to be able to go anywhere with your powers down... especially with Mom, Aunt Paige, and Aunt Phoebe watching both doors like hawks."

Lavender eyes looked up to meet deep green eyes. There was several moments of complete silence, neither boy daring to move.

Taylor was the first to look away. "How old is it?"

"Two days."

Taylor sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "It'll have to do then," he admitted quietly, knowing his cousin had heard him.

Chris nodded his approval, picking the vial up and stepping closer to the taller male.

Taylor took it from his cousin, pulled off the cork, and downed the contents all in one shot. He shook his head to try to clear away the horrible taste. He could still taste a faint coppery flavor that was usually very bitter, but it was hardly there at all. If it had been one more day, the liquid in the vial would have been completely useless.

Chris's deep green eyes focused on Taylor's lavender ones, searching them as he put his hands on his cousin's shoulders. "How are you feeling? Was it still strong enough?"

Taylor recorked the vial and placed it in his cousin's hand. "It'll do for now." He glanced at the book's current page before flashing out.

Chris turned to the book to close it but paused when glancing at the page. He whispered the title of the page.

"Savitar, the Chthonian…"

~C~

Taylor appeared right in front of the bar of Sanctuary, sensing no humans inside and knowing it was safe to appear there. The room seemed to swim before his eyes, and he fell flat on his ass before rolling onto his side and groaning with a hint of pain in the sound.

Aimee gasped and ran around the bar where she had been putting away glasses. She hurried to the teen's side, noticing he had his sunglasses back on but pushing that thought aside until later. He was pale, and his breath was coming out in pants as if he had just sprinted a five mile marathon or something. She gently brushed some of the sweat drenched hair back from his face as Dev, Fang, and one of the other quads came over to see what was going on.

"Is he okay?" Dev questioned, noting the way the boy was dressed which only added to his suspicion that there was a pissed off look laying behind the opaque sunglasses.

No one had the chance to answer as Taylor suddenly sat up. "Where is she?" he demanded to know, his voice hoarse despite the deadly edge that they were all beginning to recognize.

Fang let out a sigh as he leaned against the edge of the bar. 'He's not going to take this well,' he thought to himself before deciding to tell the kid the truth. He figured the boy deserved that much. "We haven't found her yet."

Taylor's gaze locked onto the wolf as he climbed to his feet, accepting Dev's help and looking almost apologetically at Aimee before glaring back at Fang. He didn't want to burden the female bear with his weight. "What do you mean you haven't found her?" He was too pissed off to bother trying to hide his teeth, three sets of fangs visible as he spoke. He had one large set with two slightly smaller sets on either side of the large pair, strange enough to make all of them even more curious where the teen had come from.

Dev moved in between Fang and Taylor, bracing the palms against Taylor's chest and meeting his gaze evenly. "We've gone out several times to search, and we have others out looking now, but it's as if she just disappeared the way you and Ash do. We can't find her." He looked deep into the teen's eyes. "We haven't given up, Taylor, and we have no intention of doing so."

~C~

Alianda woke up in a strange room. She pushed back the blankets that were covering her, slowly sitting up and realizing that she was dressed in a simple white gown that she had never seen before in her life. She winced slightly as her bare feet touched the stone floor. It was cold, and she moved quickly over to the fireplace across the room to sit in one of the chairs before it. She wanted to investigate where she was, but she was frightened at the thought of wandering around a strange place.

Thorn slowly opened the door of the chambers he had put the girl in, unable to resist checking in on her any longer. He frowned when he saw the empty bed but then heard movement over by the fire. He stepped into the room and closed the door behind him. "You're awake," he stated, barely suppressing a grin at the frightened reaction he caused in the teen girl.

Alianda jumped at the sound of the familiar voice, turning her attention from the fire to gaze at the man who had stepped into the room. Her eyes widened slightly in shock. "Brother?" she asked quietly.

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><p>Remember to review and let us know how we are doing!<p> 


	5. Chapter 5

Thank you to all who have reviewed, faved, followed or simply read this story!

Review please to let us know how we are doing please. Enjoy!

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><p><span><strong><em>Previously:<em>**

**_Alianda jumped at the sound of the familiar voice, turning her attention from the fire to gaze at the man who had stepped into the room. Her eyes widened slightly in shock. "Brother?" she asked quietly._**

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><p>Taylor left Sanctuary an hour later, mostly because it took that long for him to convince Aimee that he was fine. He promised her he wouldn't flash all over town unless he absolutely had to. He was walking down Bourbon Street when it hit him... her scent. It was a pleasant mix of jasmines and water lilies that seemed to come naturally from her. He took a deep breath into his lungs to commit the small to memory before turning down the alley he could smell it coming from. He could smell another suspicious scent in the air, almost like Death warmed over. The smell brought back such/ good memories for him of dealing with the demon of fear. Not.

His eyes narrowed behind the dark lenses of his sunglasses as he stepped into the darkness of the alley, following the mixture of the two scents at a speed that even Olympic runners couldn't dream of accomplishing. After a time, he found an abandoned building. It reeked of the two scents, especially the one that made him feel ill. His nose wrinkled with disgust as he stepped into the doorway of the abandoned building, hearing voices coming from deeper inside.

"That fucking asshole!" one more voice, sounding angry but strangely slurred as if drunk or extremely dizzy, all but screamed. "Just who the /hell/ did he think he was? He took our playmate... after all the time it's taken to get my hands on Alianda!"

The note of wickedness Taylor could hear in the words set the half-demigod, half-witch on ed. He walked quickly to the other side of the abandoned building where he could sense the four teenagers, all of whom appeared to be a year or two younger than him, in a separate room. He paid no attention to whatever they were doing as he silently pressed his back against the wall just outside the entrance to the room. He could hear clothing being ruffled and detected a cruel smile on the face of the one who had been speaking as he spoke again.

"But whoever she got this off of has to be loaded. She either stole it, or it was payment for being the poor bastard's little whore." Davin grinned as he turned the ring over in his hands. "This baby is going to set us up nice."

At that moment, all Taylor could see was red. Calling his current mood pissed off would be putting it lightly. He stormed into the room after kicking the door clean off its hinges.

Davin and the other three teens spun around to stare at the new arrival, the large ruby ring held in the leader's hands. Their eyes all widened as they gawked at the destroyed door. "What the hell..." Davin attempted a brave face, but he couldn't quite mask the fear in the tone of his voice.

Taylor's gaze shifted as he looked around the room. The smell of sex and blood was heavy in the air, and it seemed to spark his anger even further. Part of him was still confused about the things he was sensing... until he noticed the ring in Davin's hand and the pile of Alianda's cut up clothes on the floor just a few feet away. He was barely able to control his powers as he realized what had happened.

Alianda hand been raped.

The four teenage boys felt the temperature in the room drop significantly as the presence of something truly even began to hang in the air like clouds over their heads. They stared at Taylor, whatever they saw causing them to scream several octaves higher than normally possible as they each tried to scramble for the nearest exit. But none of them realized one simple truth:

None of the four of them were going to leave that room alive.

~C~

Thorn stared at the girl sitting on one of the chairs in front of the fire. The white gown he had instructed one of his servants to put on her looked wonderful on her, almost as if she had been born to wear it. He quickly shook those thoughts to the back of his mind, knowing he couldn't afford to dwell on thoughts of his missing sisters. Alianda and Braith were gone, and he was long past thinking either of them would ever return. "What did you call me?" he asked, a sharper tone to his voice than he actually intended.

Alianda swallowed hard as she looked up at Thorn, her glassy eyes slowly clearing as she focused her attention on him. When she finally spoke again, it was almost as if she hadn't heard his question. "Who are you?" she demanded to know. "You can't keep me here!" She narrowed her eyes into dangerous slits. "I'll fight you if I have to."

Thorn couldn't stop the chuckle that escaped his lips. "Of that I have no doubt," he commented. "I saw your struggles with those human males who were attacking you." He growled, doing his best to suppress his temper around her. "They won't bother you again. You're safe here."

Alianda sighed. "Where is /**_here_**/?" she questioned. "Who are you, and why did you save me from Davin and his friends?"

"My name is Thorn, and I have no idea," he responded. He shrugged his shoulders. "It seemed like a good thing to do at the time. As for where you are..." He motioned around the room. "You are in your new home since you seem so intent on coming here whether you're invited or not. These are your chambers. The bathroom is through the far door, and the closet is next to it. I'll introduce you to your servants later."

Alianda swallowed hard, staring at him with wide eyes. "Servants? I don't have any servants, and I have nothing to put into a closet."

"You have anything you want here," Thorn stated, arguing with her. "And you will definitely have servants. Don't expect me to be the one to wait on you."

Alianda felt a pout on her lips as she crossed her arms over her chest, realizing she wasn't getting out of here so easily.

~C~

Taylor finished getting rid of most of the evidence from the death of the humans that was all over the room inside the abandoned building. He erased all signs of his attack from his person except for a few splotches of gore that had landed on his left cheek and the tips of his bangs. He picked his ring up from the floor and put it back on his finger as he walked away from the abandoned building with his hands shoved deep in his pockets. He could hardly recall the last time he hand been like he had just gotten, completely out of control of his own anger and powers. That was a dangerous combination. He was puzzled, though, because he had felt truly angry for the first time he could remember. He'd seen and done many things in his life, including fighting against several different kinds of human and literal demons, but there was something different about this time that left him feeling... He couldn't think of the correct words to describe what it was he had felt.

Taylor was interrupted from his inner musing when his ring began to pulse in his heart. It could only mean one thing... It had found Alianda. The ring focused on the feelings of a Cupid for whomever they were thinking about so that it could find that particular person. He had to suppress the urge to fall to his knees in relief, sensing that she was alive and healthy. He focused more, trying to locate exactly where she was, but kept coming up blank. He couldn't tell where she was, only that she was alive but nowhere that he was aware of on earth, in Heaven, or in the Underworld. He was extremely grateful she was alive, but he was even more confused about why he couldn't locate her. His ring had never failed him before.

Taylor ground his teeth together in irritation as he came to the only conclusion he could... Alianda was now physically in the place she had been dream walking. It was the only possibility that explained why his ring was unable to take him to her. He growled as he realized what he was going to have to do, making his way toward Sanctuary and hoping the one he needed to talk to would be there. He knew what he had to do, but that did not mean that he had to like doing it.

Dev stopped Taylor before the teen could step inside Sanctuary, his eyes searching over the teen's body. "Tell me you haven't done something to endanger all of us," he commented, reaching out to brush the gore away from Taylor's left cheek. "You've got blood and junk in your hair, too."

"I'm looking for someone," Taylor stated, doing his best to keep his barely contained agitation under control. He looked over Dev's shoulder, trying to see inside to find out if his quarry was inside or not.

Dev didn't move out of Taylor's way. He only knew of four beings the teenage boy might be looking for. "Alianda still hasn't been found. Aimee is waiting tables. Fang is bussing tables." He smirked. "As for Ash, he rarely comes here since it causes too much of an uproar. He's usually roaming around the city, though."

Taylor gave the bear an icy glare. He wasn't in the best of moods right now. He ground his teeth together before grudgingly asking, "You wouldn't happen to have his number, would you, or an address?"

Dev faked a look of confusion. "Who?"

Taylor groaned under his breath. "Acheron."

Dev grinned before giving Taylor the number and reaching out to hug the kid.

Taylor hadn't expected it, but he softened up after a second and hugged the man back. When they let go, Taylor ran off, promising he'd be back later. He kept running until he found a payphone, surprisingly harder than it would seem to be in a large city. He paid and dialed the number, biting his lower lip as he listened to the ringing. He was silently praying the man would pick up while still hoping he wouldn't.

Acheron didn't answer. He appeared in the shadows of the alley behind where Taylor was standing instead. "I don't answer numbers I don't recognize," he stated.

Taylor hung up the phone, spun around, and walked over to the alley where the other male stood, appearing to be around twenty-one years old. He sighed as he ran a hand through his hair, then remembered he had blood in his hair and quickly wiped his hand off on the back of his jeans. He didn't need another lecture, especially today, but he failed to feel the drops of blood that ran from the tips of his bangs to his cheek and down onto his jaw. It wouldn't be difficult for anyone looking at him to think he had just committed mass murder.

Acheron growled as he looked the teenage boy up and down. He grabbed the front of Taylor's shirt and slammed his back against the brick wall before throwing him through the air to land in a heap at the back of the alley. The fire in his eyes was visible even through his black sunglasses as he manifested his staff while approaching the prone form of the teenager. "You killed /humans/?" Acheron demanded, unable to stop the snarl that escaped. He reached down and grabbed Taylor's hair, jerking it up and back so the kid had no choice but to look up at him. "We don't kill humans!"

Taylor felt his eyes widen. For the first time in his life since being in the orphanage, he was truly terrified. He could feel his own blood dripping from a gash on the back of his head, put there by the brick wall Acheron had thrown him against, but he forced the pain aside. He even bit back a yelp when Acheron grabbed his hair and pulled it painfully. He had known that the people at the orphanage could never hope to hurt him physically, but he was positive that wouldn't be the case with Acheron. Something told him deep down in his soul that the other being would be able to rip him apart if he really wanted to.

Taylor's glasses had fallen off somewhere during his flight through the alley, so there was nothing to mask the outright terror in his lavender eyes as he stared up at Acheron. His mind attempted to focus on the tactics from his past, despite his efforts to beat that part of himself back down, while he tried to focus on a good way to explain to Acheron what had happened. He squeezed his eyes shut as he felt tears stinging them, refusing to allow himself to be the way he used to be.

Acheron growled, pulling Taylor's head back further. "Speak!" He was too lost in his own anger to be able to realize that he was losing sight of Taylor's past, present, and future... which could only mean one thing. The teenage boy was a major part of Acheron's future. That was the only reason he couldn't see someone completely. He growled again, his fangs showing as he fought to reign in his temper. "Why the hell did you come here?! We have enough beings preying on the hapless humans without me having to worry about you, too!" He shoved Taylor away from him, sending him back against the brick wall, only the look on his face warning Taylor not to try to run.

Taylor bit down on his lower lip hard enough to draw blood. He could feel his body starting to shake uncontrollably as his dragon reared its head in anger, knowing there were only two possible reasons. One, he was already weak and losing blood. Two, his terror from the past was returning. The dragon inside of him whispered suggestions about how, with its power, he could eliminate this threat, but the rest of him somehow know that it would be a mistake if he tried to do that. If, and it was a very slim if, he managed to eliminate Acheron, the world would spin into endless chaos, and he subconsciously knew it. He put his hands to his ears to try to block out the dragon's voice. "Shut up, shut up, shut up," he chanted under his breath. His conscious mind was beginning to lose its battle with the dragon, which only happened when he was low on blood, energy, or both. He had to make it stop before he did something really stupid. He could already feel all three sets of his fangs lengthening. He bit into his own palm to try to calm himself down.

"Stop pressuring the poor boy," a new voice stated with barely hidden hints of the swift death Acheron would receive if he didn't back off. "Can't you tell he's going into shock? Or can you not see past your own anger, Apostolos?"

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><p>Who is this mysterious stranger?<p>

Are they friend or foe?

Can they help find Alianda?

We'll find out in the next chapter! READ AND REVIEW PLEASE!


	6. Chapter 6

Hey! I thought that I add another chapter just for fun. and It's a bit longer than the previous chapters!

So this is kind of like my Christmas/New Year's gift to everyone!

Enjoy!

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><p><span><em><strong>Previously:<strong> _

_**"Stop pressuring the poor boy," a new voice stated with barely hidden hints of the swift death Acheron would receive if he didn't back off. "Can't you tell he's going into shock? Or can you not see past your own anger, Apostolos?"**_

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><p>Acheron, the God of Final Fate, turned to look at the new arrival. The other being possessed a lethal look of his own, giving off the aura and power to match the look. He rivaled Acheron in height and was dressed in dark greens and blacks.<p>

Vivid poison green eyes bore into liquid mercury ones as the new arrival shoved his way past Acheron and knelt down next to Taylor's form, who had assumed the fetal position and was rocking himself back and forth. The stranger took the teen into his arms and ran a hand through his hair in a comforting gesture, not batting an eyelash at the sight of the blood.

Taylor looked up at the new male and felt his eyes grow wide in both shock and recognition. "D-Dimitri?" he questioned quietly, almost forgetting about Acheron all together.

The ancient Drakos smiled. "I'm here, Taylor." He glared over at Acheron. "Nothing's going to happen to you."

Acheron sighed as he finally started to calm down. "He has to learn there are consequences for his actions, Dimitri. He killed four humans tonight." He narrowed his eyes. "You know our rules. You follow them yourself, or the Chthonians would have killed you long ago. I'm trying to make him realize the danger before they come for him."

Dimitri growled at Acheron. "Considering they raped a girl he's close to, he was well within his rights to kill them. He could have done a /**_lot_**/ worse to them, but he didn't. He restrained himself incredibly well." He continued to speak even as he noticed Taylor calming in his presence. "You should know his history. You saw it yourself earlier. He's already suffered more than anyone should, but then you just had to go and shatter what little control he had when he was already pushing his body's limits just to come see you." Cold-blooded fury was flooding through Dimitri's veins as he fought against the urge to hit Acheron, thinking of him as nothing more than an asshole in the current situation. But he knew what Taylor needed the god to do, so he reigned in his anger and locked it away.

Taylor, now trembling from a lack of energy more than fear, tried to sit up as much as he could while he was curled against the dragon's body. "Alianda," he whispered, knowing the other two would hear him despite the lack of volume in his voice. "They took Alianda and raped her..." His voice trailed off as he leaned his body more against the one holding him, fighting to regain his own strength.

Acheron sighed as he watched the young boy. He knelt down in front of the pair of them, ignoring the growls he could hear coming from deep inside Dimitri. He gave the dragon a 'back off' glare as he held his wrist close to the teen's mouth. "Drink," he instructed in a voice that left no room for arguments. "Then you can tell me what it is you need me for."

Taylor hesitated for just a few moments before he let himself lick the skin of the immortal's wrist, biting down rather hard. The dragon inside of him was still pissed, but it settled for the hard bite for now. Three sets of fangs piercing skin at the same time tended to hurt anyone. He was surprised by the richness of the blood, realizing that Acheron really was an ancient. The god might not be as old as Dimitri, since the dragon had hatched closer to the dawn of time, but the taste of Acheron's blood still made Taylor feel like an infant. He gulped the blood down hungrily, showing no signs of stopping anytime soon.

Acheron closed his eyes as Taylor fed. The pain didn't bother him in the least, and he knew the blood loss wouldn't either. He reached out with his free hand, bringing Taylor's dropped sunglasses into his grip and repairing them with just a thought before handing them to the teenager. "I think you dropped these," he commented, just the hint of laughter in his tone as he tried to help the boy relax. "Ready to talk and tell me what it is you need?"

Taylor watched Dimitri roll his eyes at Acheron as he licked the wound closed and pulled away from Acheron's wrist, his face turning red from the embarrassment of having to feed from another male despite having already fed from Dimitri before to ensure he lived. He took his sunglasses from Ash and placed them into his jacket pocket for now. When he glanced up at Acheron, the change in his eyes was clearly noticeable. They were bright in a beautiful shade of lavender, and there were some noticeable streaks of silver through the lavender colored irises. His face turned a few different shades of color before he finally found the courage to speak. "I found out where Alianda disappeared to, kind of... But I can't seem to get there with my powers..." His voice trailed off, hoping Acheron would understand and not embarrass him any further.

Acheron studied Taylor for several moments before reaching out and removing his Cupid's ring from his hand. His eyes narrowed behind his sunglasses as he studied the object in silence for several more moments, ignoring the unsettled shifting of both of the others. Finally, he glanced at Taylor as he handed the ring back to him. "Handy little object," he commented. "Unless you're trying to get into places like Azmodea or Kalosis." He smirked, unable to resist a peek through the teen's mind as he saw the various places Taylor had imagined Alianda might be. He shook his head. "Oh, no. What you know of as the Underworld is a walk in the park compared to where your girlfriend is." He stood up and reached out to pull Taylor to his feet. "I'll have to go with you. I don't think Dimitri will appreciate Thorn turning you into a stain on his wall."

Taylor glared up at Acheron as he was pulled to his feet, but there was more embarrassment than anger in the look. "Quit it," he said, referring to Acheron reading his mind. "I do have private information that I don't like others peeking at." He shuddered slightly as he thought about that information... especially what had happened to him as a child.

Acheron didn't bother responding to the teen, glancing over at Dimitri. "I'd say come with us, but Thorn would be turning you into the stain on his wall instead of Taylor. He's still pissed off at you about Merinda," he commented, referring to the woman Dimitri had stolen from Thorn centuries before.

Dimitri merely shrugged, as if the information didn't bother him in the slightest. "Like I told him countless times, it's not my fault she threw herself at me and begged me to take her out of there."

Taylor gave the full dragon a calculating look. He wasn't an empath like his mother and cousin, but he had always been good at detecting lies. He didn't sense even the slightest hint of a lie in Dimitri's words, but the name suddenly struck a memory deep inside of him. "Isn't that the woman you told me made you realize that you're gay?"

Dimitri gave the teen a bright smile. "Well... meeting you helped with that decision, too." He laughed, the sound booming off the brick walls surrounding them, when Taylor stared at him like a deer caught in the headlights of an oncoming vehicle and backed away as quickly as he could.

Taylor looked peeved as his face turned a few different darker shades of color. "Perv," he muttered.

Acheron sighed, reaching for Taylor's hand again. "Are we going or not?" he questioned, slightly irritated at the thought of playing chauffeur. He could feel something brewing and wanted time to prepare for it.

Taylor looked sheepish. "Sorry..." He let Acheron take his hand and silently waited for the two of them to flash out.

Dimitri gave Acheron one last look. "He better be back in one piece and alive, or I will make /you/ a splatter on the wall. I don't give a damn that your mother will be personally hunting me down and destroying the world." He stared into Acheron's eyes, through the sunglasses, to let him know he was completely serious about his threat. "I will end the world over the boy."

Taylor blinked at the dragon's remark but knew better than to ask what he meant about ending the world. He shoved the curiosity to the back of his mind and glanced at Acheron, waiting for the older being to take him to Alianda.

Acheron shook his head at Dimitri's remark. "Leave it to you to be selfish," he commented but sighed. "You don't honestly think I would let anything happen to the boy just because I lost my temper earlier? I thought you knew me better than that, dragon." Without another word, he pulled Taylor closer and the two of them disappeared.

Taylor's mouth gaped open as he looked around. "Where are we?" he questioned, keeping his voice quiet.

"This is the throne room inside Thorn's castle. If he has her like you think he does, he'd have brought her here." He closed his eyes and concentrated, trying to locate the girl.

~C~

Alianda took a long bath, scrubbing her skin until it was raw. It made the wounds on her body re-open and turn the bath water red, but she didn't care. She felt completely dirty and wanted to do anything she could to get rid of the feeling. She sighed when the water turned cold, pulling herself out of the deep pool that was set into the bathroom floor and wrapping a thick towel around herself. Her long, white-blonde, hair dripped water onto the floor as she moved from the bathroom and back into the bedroom.

There was a tray of food sitting on the foot of the large bed, but Alianda ignored it as she crawled back onto the bed and curled up into a tight ball. She squeezed her eyes shut, not realizing that her mind was screaming for help that reached toward both Taylor and Thorn as she fought against the memories of what had been done to her.

Thorn's head snapped up as he felt the call for help in both his mind and heart, not realizing yet that it was coming from the chambers where he had put the girl he had rescued. "Alianda..." he whispered, dropping the papers he had been looking at and clenching his hands into fists. "Alianda... Where are you at, Little Sister?" He stood up and began to pace the room, surprised to find his attention going to the teenage girl down the hall. "Impossible..." he said, glancing toward the door for several moments before deciding to go find out once and for all.

Alianda lay on top of the bed, not even noticing that her blood was soaking into the towel she had wrapped around herself or the blankets beneath her from re-opening her wounds during her bath. Her skin was completely raw and throbbing, but she welcomed the pain. It was something to help distract her from the images that refused to leave her alone. She stared morosely at the far wall, her eyes unfocused and getting heavy as she faded in and out of consciousness with the loss of blood.

Thorn tapped on the door of the girl's room, growling under his breath when there was no response. He told himself he had every right to just go inside. It was /his/ castle after all. She was merely a guest and would only be staying until she healed from her injuries. But he couldn't stop the thoughts that were now running through his mind since the possibility had come to him. He opened the door and growled when he saw the condition the girl was in, hurrying over to the bed and sitting down. He pulled her head over onto his lap, gently pushing the hair away from her face as he studied every feature. "Alianda?" he asked in a gentle whisper. "Could it be you?"

Alianda's eyes blinked slowly as she shifted slightly so she could stare up at the man holding her. She felt so weak, but she didn't care that everything was slowly getting darker as the red stains on the towel and blankets around her grew bigger. "How do you know my name?" she asked quietly.

Thorn stared into the girl's eyes in disbelief. They were the wrong color... a bright blue instead of the brilliant white they should be... but they were his baby sister's eyes. He had no doubt that he was correct. Her hair was a shining chestnut brown instead of the deep blue that was natural for her. He sighed and shook his head. "What has happened to you, Little Sister?" he questioned softly. He put his wrist to his mouth and bit down hard so that his blood would begin to flow, putting his wrist to her mouth so the blood would flow into her mouth. "Drink," he said, keeping his voice soft. "It will help." He held her head still with his other hand when Alianda's eyes widened and she tried to move away from him. "Drink," he repeated in a tone that left no room for any arguments.

Alianda shook her head in protest, even as the warm blood pooled in her mouth. It wasn't as horrible as she had been expecting. In fact, it was quite the opposite. Her eyes widened in shock as she realized that she /liked/ the taste of blood. Within a few moments, she was holding Thorn's hand and forearm, closing her eyes as she drank deep and almost moaning at the pleasure it was giving her. She barely noticed the wounds on her body slowly healing as she drank, nor did she notice that her eyes and hair were changing... She was slowly becoming the primary being she had always been.

~C~

Taylor's nose picked up the smell of blood, lots of blood. He spun around quickly toward the direction it was coming from as it traveled down the hall toward them. His eyes widened as he recognized the hint of jasmine and water lilies mixed in with the scent of the blood. He looked over at Acheron and mouth one single word, 'Alianda!', before hurrying down the hall toward the place the smell was emanating from.

Acheron followed a pace or two behind Taylor, already sensing what was happening inside the bedroom they were heading toward. He sighed, wondering if the teenage boy was ready for what he was about to see... what he was about to find out.

Taylor sensed something coming from Acheron that made him curious, but he shoved the thought away as he came up to the door where he could smell the blood coming from. Without waiting for Acheron to catch up to him, he landed a solid kick to the heavy door. Granted, the door wasn't knocked clean off its hinges like the one he had kicked inside the abandoned building, but it did slam really hard against the wall. He stared in shock, barely able to keep his surprise under control, as he took in the sight on the bed.

Thorn growled, his head snapping up at the intrusion. Without moving even a fraction of an inch, he pinned the intruder against the wall to deal with as soon as his little sister was taken care of.

Acheron stepped into the room and shook his head, glancing over at Taylor. "Don't try moving," he warned the teenager. "You won't like what happens when you do. He's got you in a power hold." He moved closer to the bed, shaking his head at Thorn. "What the hell do you think you're doing?" he questioned.

Thorn didn't look away from Alianda. "I'm taking care of my sister. Get the hell out of here, Atlantean, and take whatever /**_that_**/ is with you before he becomes my lunch." He sighed, frowning a little. "She's needing a hell of a lot of blood."

Taylor growled low at both men. He wasn't a /**_child_**/! He knew that he was in deeper than he could possibly believe, but most of the sane thoughts were pushed from his mind at the sight of Alianda. There was jealously bubbling deep inside, and the dragon part of him responded with a roar of rage. His eyes flashed, momentarily, to their vivid poison green color, immediately attracting Thorn's attention.

Thorn growled again. He'd recognize those eyes anywhere. He narrowed his eyes at Acheron. "You had the nerve to bring Dimitri's offspring here? Get him the hell out of here!" He started to lunge at Taylor but stopped when Alianda stirred in his arms. He reached with his free hand to gently brush the deep blue hair back from her pale face. "It's okay, Little Sister. I have you now. You're safe." He transferred the bloody towel that was around her naked body for a set of comfortable pajamas, tucking her in on a freshly made bed once she had pulled off of his wrist. He paid no attention to the wound closing on its own, his attention focused mainly on her.

Alianda barely stirred as Thorn moved her. Even though there was no longer any trace of human to her, she still had the memories of what had been done to her. She curled into a tight ball, the trembling of her body barely noticeable as she snuggled deep into the bed. Her brilliant white eyes practically glowed as she stared off at the far wall, seemingly unaware that there was anyone else in the room with her at all.

Taylor's anger seemed to be temporarily paused by an imaginary button. Pure confusion was written all over his face as he muttered, repeating the main words Thorn had said that had caught his attention, "little sister..." Then he remembered the odd feeling he had felt from Acheron. His demigod blood seemed to somehow allow him to move his head just enough to be able to glare directly at the Atlantean. "Why the hell didn't you say anything?!" he demanded, his anger coming back full speed. He didn't notice the electricity, the beginning of a god-bolt, beginning to spark in his hand. He had never been able to create one before and didn't realize he was doing so now.

The sound of Taylor's raised voice seemed to partially break through the fog Alianda was in. She sat up and looked around in confusion. "Taylor?" she questioned softly as she looked around. She spotted Taylor pinned against the wall and frowned, pulling the blankets tighter around herself. She didn't want him to see her like this. She didn't want him to feel sorry for her. She didn't want him to know what had happened to her. She shook her head, bloody tears pooling in her eyes. "Go away," she whispered, mostly not meaning it but part of her wanting him to. She couldn't bear the thought of him finding out about Davin and his friends.

Acheron didn't flinch away from Taylor's angry gaze. "You're going to hurt yourself if you try using that god-bolt," he warned him. He sighed, glancing over at the bed before looking back at the teenage boy. "I didn't say anything, because I wasn't completely sure until now."

Thorn growled, releasing Taylor so quickly that the boy fell to the floor in a heap. "Get out of here!" he yelled, his voice shaking the room. "I want /**_both_**/ of you out of here /**_NOW_**/!" He moved to help Alianda lay back down, soothing her quietly.

Taylor sat up and stared disbelieving at Acheron. "Says the one who won't tell me who my father is when he obviously knows!" he yelled. He caught the flash of surprise in Thorn's eyes. "Yeah, dumb-ass. Dimitri has no biological relation to me. Plus, he's gay so he won't be having any!" He knew he should stop speaking, but he couldn't get himself to do it. "And why the /**_hell_**/ did you leave the assholes alive who did that to her?! Why did I have to come up behind you and do it myself?!"

The three others stared at Taylor in various levels of amazement, but one thing was plainly obvious... the boy was stubborn, and he was determined he wasn't going /**_anywhere_**/.

Alianda stared at Taylor. "You /**_killed_**/ them?" she whispered in disbelief. She shook her head, holding it between her hands as she curled up on her side. "This isn't happening," she murmured. "Someone /**_please_**/ tell me this isn't happening..."

Thorn moved off the bed, too fast for Taylor to see him coming. "It's none of your business what /**_I_**/ do or don't do, /**_boy_**/." He shoved him against the wall, his fist driving a hole through it right beside Taylor's head. "Trust me. If I had known she was my baby sister, there wouldn't have been anything left of those humans."

Alianda moaned quietly, starting to tremble again. "Go away," she muttered, rocking back and forth. "Please just go away..." She squeezed her eyes shut, repeating the words over and over.

Taylor gasped in shock as he suddenly moved from being pinned against the wall to laying under the covers with Alianda. He instinctively, but hesitantly, wrapped his arms around her pajama-clad body. "Shh..." he whispered against her ear. "It's okay. I've got you."

Alianda screamed, her eyes flying open as she struggled against Taylor's hold. "Let go of me! No! Don't /**_touch_**/ me!"

Taylor purposefully kept his hold loose enough Alianda could push away from him... but not completely out of his physical reach. "Alianda..." He spoke calmly for the first time since the chaos had started. "It's over. Nothing bad is going to happen to you anymore."

Acheron sighed as he held his hand against Thorn's chest to keep the other immortal from being able to go rip out Taylor's throat. "Your sister is the one who summoned him to her side," he stated, his eyes calm as he looked into Thorn's confused ones. Glancing over his shoulder at the two teenagers, he sighed and sent them to Taylor's bedroom in San Francisco.

Thorn shoved against Acheron. "What the hell do you think you're doing?" he demanded.

Acheron shook his head as he released Thorn. "Think about it. You unlocked her powers, and her memories are beginning to return. Do you think Azura and Noir will give her a chance to recover before they come for her? She's safer away from here until she's completely herself again."

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><p>Oh?! This is getting more interesting!<p>

Review and tell us (ToTheJourney2014 and I) how were doing!


	7. Chapter 7

_**Previously:**_

_**Acheron shook his head as he released Thorn. "Think about it. You unlocked her powers, and her memories are beginning to return. Do you think Azura and Noir will give her a chance to recover before they come for her? She's safer away from here until she's completely herself again."**_

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><p>Phoebe Halliwell hummed to herself as she stepped into her son's room to put away the clothes Piper had washed for him. Her sisters were taking their turns guarding the doors, so she was able to relax a little as she debated what the best thing to do would be. She couldn't excuse Taylor for leaving them the way he had, but the empathic part of her understood why he had done it. All of the levelheadedness she had achieved since lecturing Taylor a few hours before flew out the window as he suddenly appeared in his bed... with a girl/. "Taylor Dimitri Halliwell!" she screamed at him. "Just /what/ do you think you're doing?"

Taylor cringed at the volume in his mother's voice, quickly covering Alianda's ears with his hands. "It's /_**not**_/ what you're thinking!" he yelled back, slowly taking his hands away from Alianda's ears. "She's the reason why I /had/ to sneak out... twice in one day!"

Just then a blur came running into the room, tackling Taylor. "/_**TAYLOR**_/!" a little girl, about the age of four or five with dark brown hair, yelled as she tackled her brother. "You're back! I was /_**so**_/ scared when I felt you were hurt!"

At the word 'hurt', Phoebe's entire attitude changed. She immediately moved over to the bed, laundry completely forgotten, checking both teens for wounds as she asked a million questions a minute.

Alianda wasn't sure what to make of the situation, nervously hiding her face in Taylor's shirt. Then she cringed as she realized what she was doing and moved to hide her face in one of the pillows that was on the bed, trying not to tremble.

Phoebe's empathy powers sparked as they detected the anxiety and fear coming from the teenage girl, and she forced herself to calm down. "I'm sorry, dear. I didn't mean to frighten you." She gently pulled the girl's face out of the pillow and offered her a smile. "I'm Phoebe Halliwell, Taylor's mother."

Alianda refused to meet the woman's gaze, her lower lip trembling as she fought to regain control of herself. Her white eyes shined brightly through the curtain of dark blue hair that fell over to hide her face from view. "I have to get out of here," she whispered. She cringed as Taylor reached for her, almost falling off of the bed.

Taylor sighed, looking hopelessly at his mother and mouthing, 'She was /raped/, Mom.' He managed to stop Alianda from falling off of the bed, growling softly when she struggled against him. He didn't know what to do to help her.

Phoebe sighed, sitting on the edge of the bed and pulling the strange-looking girl into her arms. She rocked her gently as she stroked her hair, not stopping despite the girl's struggles. "Who hurt you?" she asked quietly, using her free hand to reach for Taylor's hand and squeeze it reassuringly.

Taylor squeezed his mother's hand back as he also hugged his younger sister to him. He needed the emotional support and knew that Alianda did, too.

His younger sister wiggled around on Taylor's lap, wanting to get a better look at the older girl that both adults were trying to comfort. Her large innocent brown eyes blinked up at her curiously. "Are you Alianda?" she asked innocently, remembering Taylor telling her earlier about the girl that he'd met in a far away city.

Taylor ran a hand through the little girl's dark hair. "Yes, she is, Pym." He smiled when Pym looked up at the blue haired girl in amazement.

Alianda shook her head, struggling to sit up. She didn't want to be held. She wanted to run. She wanted to get away. She couldn't bear the thought of what Taylor must think about her. Angry and frustrated tears fell down her cheeks. "Let me go," she pleaded, moaning quietly. She was no longer in any physical pain, but her mind and heart refused to heal.

Chris gasped in shock, his hand clutching into a fist against his chest as his heart felt as if it was being crushed. He fell to his knees as emotions that weren't his own overwhelmed him. Struggling to his feet, he half-ran half-fell down the stairs from where he had been in the attic. It didn't take him long to trace the source of the pain he was feeling, stumbling into Taylor's bedroom and collapsing on the floor just in side the door. "So... much... pain..." he managed to gasp out. Tears pooled in his eyes as his body started to tremble.

"/_**Chris**_/!" Taylor slid Pym off his lap and hurried to his cousin's side, scooping him into his arms and carrying him over to the bed. He laid him down next to Alianda and his mom. "Breathe, Chris," he said, holding his cousin's hand in the hopes that it would help him take on some of his calmness. "It's my fault. I should have thought of your sensitivity with your empathic abilities," he muttered to himself, feeling guilty that he had done this to the younger boy.

Alianda looked over from the shelter of Phoebe's arms, momentarily not struggling. "Empathic abilities?" she questioned in a whisper. She had never heard of such a thing before.

Taylor nodded. "He just got the ability a few months ago, and he's still sensitive to really strong emotions." He looked up at her, his lavender eyes clashing with her white ones. "He most likely sensed your inner pain, and his power reacted to it the same way you are." He noticed his little sister running from the room... most likely to get his uncles, father, and aunts. He shivered at the thought of the last ones. "Aunt Piper and Aunt Paige are going to kill me, aren't they?"

Alianda shook her head as she stared at Taylor's eyes, unable to look away. It was the first time she had really seen them, and she had never seen such an unusual color before. She was still completely unaware of her own transformation or of the fact that she had powers and was a primary being. "He's not sensing anything from me. I'm fine. I just need to get out of here." She took advantage of Phoebe's distraction with Chris to shove herself out of the woman's arms and hurry out of the room.

"Whoa! Who's the goddess?" Wyatt asked in a flippant tone as Alianda pushed past him. His eyes darkened as he took in the sight of his little brother laid out on the bed. "What the hell happened? Did that bitch do this?" He knelt on the floor beside the bed and reached out to brush Chris's damp hair back from his forehead. His little brother was sweating buckets as he shook on top of the bed.

Chris clutched Taylor's hand tight in his own, trying to look in his cousin's eyes and stay focused as the rest of their family crowded into the room. "She doesn't know what she is, and she's scared to death you aren't gonna want anything to do with her after what happened. She blames herself for it happening." He fell back against the pillows, panting as he struggled to breathe normally, his voice dropping to a horrified whisper. "They broke her..." He curled onto his side and released Taylor's hand, closing one of his hands into a fist against his chest and holding his head with his other hand as the pain threatened to engulf him completely.

Taylor growled, his fangs growing to their full length in his anger, at Wyatt's last comment. He punched the twice-blessed child in the gut. "Don't you /_**ever**_/ call her that again!" He jumped up from the bed and ran out of the room, calling Alianda's name.

Wyatt clutched his gut painfully, his eyes wide with surprise. Taylor had never purposefully hit him that hard before. Granted, the two of them and Chris trained together all of the time to build up each other's powers, but he'd never felt a blow that strong from his cousin before. He knew of no one else who could do that. If he hadn't taken the half step back when he saw Taylor's fist flying toward him, he was sure his gut would have been ripped open. The blonde shivered as a feeling of dread and fear went through him. Something had happened while his cousin had been gone that had made him a /lot/ more powerful.

Phoebe was in a panic. She could feel the girl's turmoil and Taylor's anger at his cousin, but she could also sense that the two of them needed time alone to figure out a few things.

Leo had already figured out that the two teenagers needed some time alone, stopping his wife from going after them. He shook his head when Piper argued that the mysterious girl could be a demon tempting Taylor to turn evil.

Phoebe was horrified at the idea, but she knew one thing for sure: Taylor Dimitri Halliwell would be one of the last people on earth to turn to the dark powers of evil. She still shuddered as she used her own power to try to take some of what Chris was feeling from him so that he could at least function. She well remembered how difficult it had been for her when she had first come into her own empathic powers... and Chris, in a strange magical way, had been there for her during that difficult time. She knew she had to do the same for him. "Chris? Can you hear me?"

Chris continued to rock back and forth, trying to hold himself together as he muttered words in a non-sequential order. "Pain... rape... broken... lost... hurts /_**SO**_/ much!" Without warning, he sat up straight on the bed, his eyes still rolling back in his head from the pain. "/_**DEMON**_/!" he shouted just as a crash sounded from downstairs.

Alianda stared in shock as half a dozen men suddenly appeared out of nowhere as she hurried down the stairs of the house. She was frozen in place, unable to move, as a ball of energy appeared in their hands and then hurtled toward them. She heard Taylor screaming something from behind her, sensed him and the others who had come racing out of the bedroom ducking out of the way, but she couldn't move. She watched as one of the energy balls, almost in slow motion, headed straight for her and struck her in the chest.

Taylor watched in horror, watching as Alianda was struck by one of the energy balls the demons had thrown. "Alianda! /_**GET DOWN!**_/" he yelled at her, trying to make his way toward her.

Alianda looked down at the ball of energy as it was absorbed into her chest, not feeling anything at all except for a strange surge of power. She narrowed her eyes at the six men, stepping off of the last stair and moving toward them instead of ducking down out of the way. Her voice was silky smooth when she finally spoke, white fire sparking out of her eyes. "You really shouldn't have done that." She held out her hands, electricity shooting out of her palms and engulfing the three men directly in front of her. She laughed as they slowly disintegrated, positive that she was completely losing her mind.

Taylor had jumped the railing of the stairs and dropped on top of one of the last three demons just after Alianda had incinerated the others. He didn't have time to really notice what she did as he crushed the first one with his landing and plunged one hand into the second to grab its heart and crush it. He watched as the second demon immediately burst into flames around his hand, screaming as it burned until it was nothing but ashes. He turned toward the third demon, cracking the knuckles of his opposite hand as he smirked at him. He could tell by the power level emanating from it that it was the supposed 'leader' of this little charge against his family.

The demon tried to shimmer away, but Taylor grabbed him by the throat and threw him to the ground. He snarled as he was pinned down, attempting to bite and claw at the boy holding him.

Taylor clicked his tongue disapprovingly at the demon. "Now, now. Wouldn't want you leaving the party so soon, would we?" He made no move to let the demon go or kill him, noticing his family on the stairs trying to get a good look at the demon. He stood up to his full height and held the demon by his throat as he turned around so the rest of the witches of Halliwell manor could see him. "Now. I'm only going to ask this once," he said, slowly taking off the sunglasses he wore to glare at the demon eye to eye. "Who sent you?" He gave a small smirk as he got an idea. "Course you don't /have/ to tell me. You can always be electrocuted until you feel like you can cooperate."

The demon gulped at Taylor's words, watching a few stray sparks dance across the fingers of the hybrid's free hand. He glared toward Alianda, speaking in the ancient language of Azmodea. He knew none of the others would understand him, but she would. _'Master Alianda, you have been gone for too long. Masters Azura and Noir miss you and wish for you to come home where you belong.'_ He glanced around at the others before holding his hand out toward her. _'Let us go now. Please, Master.'_

Alianda stared at the man Taylor was holding with wide eyes, slowly shaking her head as she began to back away from the two of them. "I'm not your master," she replied without thinking about how the other members of Taylor's family would take that revelation, turning to run toward the front door.

Chris nodded once toward his cousin, Taylor, before disappearing into a swirl of bright white lights. He reappeared with the same swirl seconds later in front of Alianda and wrapped her into a tight bear hug. He had managed to regain a lot of control since the fight had temporarily pushed most of Alianda's emotions from her... with the exception of confusion and frustration. "You can't keep running, Ali," he whispered in her ear as he held her struggling form.

Piper's eyes narrowed as she watched her youngest son with what was apparently a demon /master/. She straightened up to her full height as she held up her hands. "Chris! Get out of the way!" Her intention was very clear... Alianda would soon be no more than a faint smell on the air and a part of their memories. She ignored Taylor as he yelled at her to stop, letting out a relieved breath as Paige called for Chris to get him away from the demon for her. Smirking, she stared at Alianda. "You failed. You can't have any of my family." Without a second's hesitation, she gestured with her hands and sent her power toward Alianda.

Alianda stood in shock, watching with wide eyes as she felt something happening inside of her after Piper gestured. Seconds later, she exploded where she stood.


	8. Chapter 8

_**Previously:**_

_**"You failed. You can't have any of my family." Without a second's hesitation, she gestured with her hands and sent her power toward Alianda.**_

_**Alianda stood in shock, watching with wide eyes as she felt something happening inside of her after Piper gestured. Seconds later, she exploded where she stood.**_

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><p>Chris shoved himself away from his aunt, staring at his mother in horror. She had killed an innocent girl. He tried to speak to her but couldn't. His attention was snapped away when an animal-like growl starting in the room. Looking down at the remaining two beings below, Chris immediately knew who was doing the growling. It wasn't the demon.<p>

Rich, earth colored, bangs hid the usually bright and strange eyes of the eldest of the second generation of Halliwell witches. There was a disgusted snarl on his lips as he shoved the demon away from him, not caring one bit that it flew back into the old clock that always seemed to get broken whenever something attacked them at home.

The demon got up a few moments later. He stared at the boy for only one second before shimmering away to tell his masters that their little sister had been destroyed by a Wiccan witch.

Chris joined his cousin by the front door, staring at the place where Alianda had been standing moments before. The emotions he was picking up from his cousin was making him want to cry. The pain and betrayal of his mother's actions had hit his cousin hard, all but consuming the older teenager. Chris couldn't do anything to help except hug Taylor around the torso as tears began to slide down both of his cheeks.

Taylor hugged his younger cousin to him, comfortably rubbing his shoulders as the boy cried for both of them since he seemed incapable of tears for now. His shirt was soon soaked with the tears, but he barely noticed. He couldn't look away from the spot where Alianda had been standing.

"I had no choice," Piper stated. "You heard what I did. That demon called her his master. She was tricking you, Taylor."

Phoebe walked quickly down the stairs and wrapped her arms around both boys, offering them what comfort she could. She jumped away in shock when she felt the air shimmering around them, automatically pulling the boys back with her as her eyes widened.

The air where Alianda had been standing was suddenly glowing, immense power swirling around. Everyone's hair began to blow around their faces as various items began to blow away from the area.

Moments later, Alianda reappeared. Her eyes were glowing unnaturally bright, and her dark blue hair was swirling around her in the chaos. Her body lifted a few feet off of the ground as she looked at Piper and screamed at the top of her lungs, all of the glass that was on the first floor of the manor exploding in response. Power emanated from her, not allowing anyone or anything to come close to her.

Chris, sensing the emotions coming off of the young woman in waves, moved toward her carefully as he ignored the shouts of his family to stay back. "It's okay, Alianda. We aren't going to hurt you. My mom is extremely protective and reacted on instinct." He reached out to touch her, jerking his hands back in pain as they came into contact with the power coming from her.

Alianda slowly turned her attention toward Chris, his hands healing immediately, before looking over at Taylor. Blood red tears fell from her eyes as she reached one hand out toward him, remembering everything that had been done to her with perfect clarity and knowing exactly who he was. "Taylor," she spoke in a quiet whisper as she reached for him. "My so..." Her words ended quickly as she suddenly let out a piercing scream before falling to the floor, completely unconscious.

Taylor caught Alianda in his arms as he stared down at her in shock.

Chris quickly knelt on the floor as Taylor dropped to his knees, reaching out to take Alianda's wrist in his fingers while Taylor cradled her on his lap. He flinched as he touched her skin. "She's ice cold," he murmured, a horrified look appearing on his face as he stared down at the young woman. "No pulse..." he whispered in shock. He lifted his horrified gaze to Taylor. "She's dead!"

Taylor shook his head, running his hands lightly over Alianda's face and hair. "No!" He shook his head again. "You're wrong!" He stared up at Wyatt, who was still standing on the staircase. "HEAL HER!"

Wyatt hurried over and did his best, looking helplessly up at his older cousin and shaking his head sadly. "I'm sorry, Taylor. There's nothing I can do." He and Leo gently picked Alianda's body up, carrying her into the sun room and laying her on the couch before moving back a few feet to give Taylor, Chris, and Phoebe room to mourn.

~C~

Acheron stepped out onto the beach, watching Savitar riding the waves far out in the ocean. He stood still, ever patient, waiting for the other being to come in to the shore. He knew it could take a while since Savitar always did everything by his own timetable.

The Chthonian was one of many beings who could sense when someone really needed his attention. He groaned to himself as he flashed with his surfboard to appear on the beach directly behind the other immortal. "What do you want?" he questioned with no real heat in his tone.

Acheron sighed as he turned around to face his mentor. "We have a situation that directly involves you... and your son."

Savitar growled, using his powers to push Acheron back a few feet. "I don't /have/ a son, asshole." He actually shook as he tried to get himself back under control before he killed his friend.

Acheron sighed as he rubbed his temples. "Yes, you do. He looks and acts almost exactly like you." He looked back up at Savitar. "Not to mention, he has your stellar talent of being stubborn." He almost chuckled as he visualized the two having stubborn moments, trying to out-stubborn the others. They looked and acted enough to make anyone assume they were twins, the only difference between them being their age.

Savitar couldn't help it. He growled again, hating to be forced into admitting anything. He grabbed Acheron's shoulder and showed him what Azura had done to him. "I can't /have/ kids, asshole. It's impossible." He shook his head. "Never piss off a primary being."

Acheron sighed again, surprised to find himself shocked at seeing Alianda being the one Azura had pretended to be. He stared at Savitar. "Alianda is Taylor's mother? No wonder he's so damn protective of her. It must be instinct."

Savitar swore under his breath. "I swear, Atlantean, I will kill you if you don't stop whatever foolishness this is. I don't give a damn if it does release The Destroyer. Alianda is dead, and you will /never/ speak of her again!"

Acheron gave Savitar a look that showed his barely contained temper, knowing he had no choice in what he had to do. He grabbed his friend's arm and flashed them to the front porch of the Halliwell manor in San Francisco, knowing it was where Alianda and Taylor were. He released Savitar and turned to knock politely on the front door. "I guess you'll just have to see for yourself," he commented as they waited for someone to come open the door.

Taylor's head shot up as he sensed the new arrivals. He was standing at the end of the couch where Alianda was laying, Chris and Phoebe sitting on either side of her unconscious form. He just couldn't force himself to believe that she was dead. He moved quickly to the front door, beating his Aunt Piper there by seconds. He yanked the door open and glared up at Acheron, not yet seeing or caring about Savitar. "About frickin' time!" he yelled, moving back so that they could come inside. He growled at Acheron. "You have a /lot/ of explaining to do, asshole."

Savitar couldn't stop staring at the young man before them. It was just like staring into a mirror. Before he thought better of it, he removed his own sunglasses and narrowed his eyes at the boy. "Watch your tone," he stated in warning, "before I turn your dragon hide into a nice new pair of boots." He sighed, glancing over at Acheron and then back at the boy. "You must be Taylor." He added grudgingly as he nodded. "You're right, Atlantean. He /does/ look like me." He was having difficulty breathing as he thought of what Alianda must have gone through before she had died.

Acheron's attention turned toward the sun room, moving in that direction before anyone could stop him. "What the hell happened?" he demanded to know, unable to see Alianda or Taylor any longer since their future was so entangled with his own.

Taylor still hadn't looked at the second man as he ground his teeth together and stomped after Acheron, flipping the other man off over his shoulder before he responded to Acheron's question. "Some demons attacked after you dumped us off here, and the sole survivor of the group called Alianda 'Master'. She freaked out and tried to run out the door, but my cousin stopped her and was trying to calm her down when /someone/," He paused to glare at his Aunt Piper as she walked into the sun room behind them. "decided she had to be evil and blew her up!" He gestured with his hands in the air over his head for emphasis, not noticing that his mom glared at her sister as she felt his anger and frustration. "Alianda reappeared a few seconds later, but there was something really different about her. She seemed a lot older and definitely more powerful. She started to say something to me, holding her hand out toward me, but then she started screaming and passed out." He glared around the room as he sat down on the floor next to the couch Alianda was laying on before staring at the floor and crossing his arms over his chest. "Everyone's trying to say she's dead, but she's not! I /know/ she's not!"

Chris moved to kneel down next to his cousin, knowing how the other boy felt about anything too personal of his showing, and whispered, "Your dragon tattoos are showing again."

Taylor gave Chris a look out of the corner of his eyes. "I don't care," he stated, even as the black tribal markings became even more emphasized on his skin along his cheek bones, jaw, neck, and forearms.

Savitar didn't wait for Acheron to speak as his eyes fell on the body of the woman laying on the couch. He swallowed hard as he stared, unable to believe what his eyes were seeing. "It's not possible..." he whispered to himself as he moved over to the couch and knelt down beside it. He gently took Alianda's hand in his own and reached over to brush a few strands of her dark blue hair away from her face, ignoring the warning growls of his son behind him. "Everyone out," he stated in a deceptively calm voice.

Chris looked around at his family, not surprised to find none of them moving. He wasn't about to leave his cousin or Alianda alone with a complete stranger, especially without having any idea who or what he was. He remained where he was, a determined look in his eyes.

A low growl slowly began to sound from deep within Savitar, growing louder as he fought against his temper. "I said /OUT/!" he suddenly shouted. Without him moving the slightest bit, a wave of power went through the sun room, lifting everyone off their feet and carrying them into the other room... including Acheron. The doors of the sun room slammed shut, locking everyone out as he kept his attention focused on Alianda.

Chris blinked in surprise after he was dropped in the other room. He'd never seen anything like that done before... by anyone. He turned to see the same exact reaction written on the faces of Paige, Piper, Phoebe, Leo, and Taylor.

Taylor quickly turned to glare at Acheron. "Who the fuck was /that/?!" he demanded, his hands clenching into fists as he moved toward the door of the sun room.

Wyatt looked slowly from the strange man... to his cousin... to the closed door of the sun room, the pieces of the puzzle slowly coming together in his mind. "That's your dad, man," he answered before Acheron could, confident that he was correct.

Acheron moved to stand in between Taylor and the door. "You can't go in there, Taylor. Savitar's power is too strong for you to penetrate, especially in the mood he's in." He sighed, knowing he was going to have to tell the boy the truth. "That's not just your dad in there... it's your mom, too. He's trying to save the love of his life."

Phoebe gasped as she heard the stranger's words, unwilling tears brimming in her eyes. She felt a stabbing in her heart, afraid that she was about to lose the son she had grown to love more than herself over the years he had been a part of their family. She clenched her hands into fists, determined not to let anyone else see how she was feeling. She caught the look on Chris's face, realizing he could read her like a book with her in her current state, and shook her head slightly at him to tell him to keep his mouth shut.

Taylor felt his jaw drop. He couldn't believe any of this right now. "/WHAT/?!"

~C~

Savitar laid one hand on Alianda's forehead and the other on her chest, closing his eyes as he concentrated. The power he was using could be felt by the others with ease, calling on powers he hadn't used in centuries to find out what had been done to her so that he could reverse it. The longer he concentrated, the brighter the light that began to surround them became. Before long, it was shining out through the closed sun room doors, bright enough to almost blind everyone who was waiting.

A few moments later, the light engulfing the sun room died down. Bright, shining, white eyes fluttered open and looked around curiously as the adjusted to the light that was still diminishing within the room. The eyes turned to look straight up into deep pools of lavender that were full of concern. A slow smile spread across Alianda's face as she reached up and gently cupped Savitar's face between the palms of her hands. "Savitar?" she asked in a low whisper. "Could it really be you?"

Savitar wrapped his arms around her and hugged her as close as possible, burying his nose in the soft waves of her hair as he breathed in her scent. She was real. This wasn't his imagination. She smelled like jasmines and water lilies, exactly the way he remembered. "Yes, Alianda," he whispered against her hair. "It's me, my love."

Alianda began to cry silently, relief flooding through her as her tears soaked through the shoulder of the Hawaiian shirt Savitar wore. She clung as tight to him as she could, never wanting to let him go again. Not lifting her face from the crook of his neck, she spoke in a soft voice. "You have a son, Savitar. I named him Taylor, just like we decided we would if we ever had a son." She shuddered as she tried to get control of her emotions. "I wanted to tell you about him, but Azura and Noir imprisoned me. They took him from me!" She growled. "But I've found him again. He's here, Savitar! He's here in this house!"

Savitar chuckled softly as he continued to speak into her hair, holding her close. "I met him on the way in, actually, but I don't think he saw me." He chuckled again, saying the next part with a voice laced heavy in sarcasm. "Charming young man." He had to admit, if only to himself, that Acheron was right about a few things... including the almost identical looks and the mirrored stubborn streaks.

Alianda pulled back to look into Savitar's eyes, a small smile causing her face to light up even more. "You have no idea. He saved my life, Sav, and he didn't even know who I was!" She kissed him lightly on the lips before moving to get up. "Let's go see our son."

Savitar gave a sarcastic groan. "Do I have to?" He laughed when Alianda playfully smacked him on the shoulder before standing up and following her to the double doors. He stayed a couple of steps behind her as she pulled the doors open.

Alianda stepped out of the sun room, looking around at all of the faces as she searched for Taylor. She had expected him to be right by the doors, given his earlier responses to her.

~C~

The demon materialized in the silent hall, ducking down on instinct as he moved toward the throne room. He cautiously poked his head around the door, trying to gauge the mood of his masters.

"Speak!" Azura commanded, her hand poised as if to strike. She rarely had any patience for her slaves or her toys.

The demon remained bowed as low as he could possibly go, speaking to the floor in a rapid speech and hoping he would be released from the room before they realized exactly what he had told them. "Master Alianda is dead by the hand of the eldest Halliwell witch."

Noir didn't stop Azura as she lunged at the demon and dug her razor sharp fingernails deep into its chest, only manifesting a bowl to catch the blood so it wouldn't be wasted. "You're going to watch as my sister feeds on your heart if you do not speak the truth, Ilausis."

Ilausis gasped in pain, knowing better than to try to get away. That would only cause his pain to increase. "I am speaking the truth, Master Noir! I saw it happen with my own eyes!"

Azura licked blood from Ilausis's chest before looking up at him with a grin that was completely evil. "Perhaps I should eat your eyes so that I can see for myself," she stated quietly.

~C~

Alianda had to look up to see the teenager she was seeking.

Taylor was trying to get out of his current position... thrown over Acheron's shoulder like a sack of potatoes. He squirmed like a child trying to get out of a parent's grip and was epically failing. The black tattoos were still vibrant on his skin, but they looked more like blurs as he thrashed around.

Alianda's eyes widened as she stared at the sight of the two of them. "/What/ is going on, Acheron?"

Taylor called out over the giant's shoulder. "He won't let me down!"

Acheron smirked at the very slight whine he heard in Taylor's voice. "He tried to choke his cousin for some kind of comment. This seemed like the only solution."

Wyatt grinned at Taylor's predicament from the safety of the staircase, where he knew Taylor couldn't get to him.

Taylor started thrashing harder. "And I'm gonna kill him for it!"

More curious than ever, Alianda looked over at Chris where he stood nearby. She raised her eyebrow in confusion. "What did your brother say?"

"Don't tell, Chris!" Taylor yelled as his face started turning pink.

Chris smiled and had to fight back a laugh as he whispered quietly, "He was teasing Taylor about being bisexual."

Alianda glanced back up at Taylor, who's face was now brighter than a cherry, before narrowing her eyes slightly as she looked at Wyatt. "I just have one small question... What is wrong with being bisexual?" She moved over next to Acheron. "Let my son go, please."

Wyatt couldn't help but smile. "It really has more to do with his preference... one in this room especially..."

Taylor glared at Wyatt with a look that would kill if he had the power. "One more word, and you don't get any children in the future."

Alianda sighed, pinning Wyatt immobile against the wall. She used her other hand to lift Taylor from Acheron's shoulder and pin him immobile next to his cousin. "I suggest the two of you learn to quit harassing each other if either of you want to be able to move from the wall again."

Phoebe stayed back against the wall of the staircase, struggling to breathe as she felt her heart shatter even more as she heard Alianda refer to Taylor as her son. It only seemed to confirm the fact in her mind that she was about to lose her son forever. She didn't think she would be able to cope with the loss.

Alianda frowned, sensing Phoebe's emotions and thoughts but knowing she couldn't deal with the other woman now when she was trying to deal with a couple of teenage boys. She spoke mentally to Savitar, 'Could you please take Phoebe somewhere else... another room in the house so you don't freak out her or her family... and explain to her that we have no intention of taking Taylor from her as long as she allows us to see him? The poor mortal thinks we mean to take him away after she's been so wonderful to him.' She looked back at Taylor and Wyatt, waiting for their response.

Taylor and Wyatt looked nervous, both looking in different directions than Alianda and each other. "Sorry..." the two of them chorused together.

Savitar nodded to Alianda and then made his way over to the woman she had indicated. "Could we speak in private, Mrs. Halliwell?" he requested, trying to remember to keep his normal personality curbed around her.

Phoebe looked up at the older version of her son, pausing for a moment before nodding her head and standing to her feet. She led him into the sun room since her sisters and Leo had taken refuge in the kitchen.

Alianda sighed again, watching Phoebe and Savitar disappear into the sun room before turning her attention back to the two boys. "Something tells me that neither one of you are being truthful with that apology." She looked over at Chris. "Are they always like this?"

Acheron cleared his throat, uncomfortable with the family feeling in the air. "I'm glad things have worked out. Gotta go." He disappeared before anyone could stop him.

Chris shrugged. "It happens every so often, mostly when one or the other really needs to loosen up." He looked up at the next floor with a smile as he heard three sets of footprints running around. "And something tells me someone's gonna get tackled."

Alianda looked confused, not releasing either boy. "Tackled?"

Chris gestured toward his brother and cousin. "Put them down, and you'll see."

Alianda still looked confused but did as Chris requested. She put the two boys on their feet and then narrowed her eyes on them. "You two better behave yourself, or I'll make you permanent fixtures on the Halliwell's wall."

Neither teen had a chance to respond before three blurs came running down the stairs. They ran over Wyatt and tackled Taylor onto the landing. Three sets of female giggles started as both boys groaned... Wyatt in pain from being run over and Taylor in response to be stuck as his sister's park bench, /again/.

Alianda couldn't help it. She began to laugh. "They're so cute!" she commented. "These are your little sisters, Taylor?" She knelt down on the landing and held her arms out toward the three girls in invitation.

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><p>How are we doing? Good? Bad? Review and let us know! We'd love to hear what you think!<p> 


	9. Chapter 9

_**warning! **_

_**...**__**Rated M scene here! so read at your own caution!  
><strong>_

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><p><span><em><strong>Previously:<strong>_

_**Alianda couldn't help it. She began to laugh. "They're so cute!" she commented. "These are your little sisters, Taylor?" She knelt down on the landing and held her arms out toward the three girls in invitation.**_

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><p>Phoebe couldn't stop staring at Savitar. "You look so much like him," she murmured in awe. "It's uncanny."<p>

Savitar smirked, his face molding into a perfect replica of one of Phoebe's favorite expressions to see on Taylor's face. "I'll take that as a compliment, even if I do want to smack him around a bit for his attitude." He shook his head, laughing lightly before turning serious again as he guided Phoebe to sit down. "I asked to speak with you to ask a favor, Mrs. Halliwell." He glanced toward the closed door before looking back at the witch. "Alianda and I were wondering, hoping, that you might find it in your heart to allow us to visit Taylor sometimes. Would that be possible?"

Phoebe felt shocked, thinking to herself, 'They're not going to try to take him? Why?'.

Reading her mind with ease, Savitar responded to the questions she was asking herself. "You were kind enough to take Taylor in and give him a family he's never had. I never knew I had a son before today, and he was ripped from Alianda's arms as a baby. Who are we to take him away from the only family he's ever known? All we ask is for the opportunity to get to know him and love him as well."

Phoebe slowly nodded, still trying to wrap her head around everything. "I wouldn't be much of a mother myself if I denied him access to his real parents," she commented. She looked up into his eyes. "I just ask that you always protect him." She shivered a little, getting a premonition she didn't want to see.

Savitar didn't even have to use his powers to know which of her powers were affecting her. He was fairly used to seeing visions of the past or future himself and decided to ask instead of probing her mind. "What did you see?"

Phoebe wrapped her arms around herself, shaking her head as her vision cleared. She didn't want to speak about what she had seen. It was too horrible. "The demon..." she managed to get out in a gasp of words. "That poor demon..." She glanced up at Savitar. "Two people were torturing the demon who got away from here earlier. It was so horrible..."

Savitar immediately knew who Phoebe was talking about and mentally cursed. He kept his calm facade on the outside, opening his mouth to comment on the witch's vision but closing it again as a banging sound emanated from the stairs. He looked at Phoebe in confusion.

"Mom!" a familiar voice called into the room. "They're sitting on me /_**again**_/!"

Phoebe knew instantly what had happened and couldn't help but laugh in response. She was still grinning as she met Savitar's gaze. "My three youngest have decided to use their big brother as a cushion. It's one of their favorite things to do." She kept chuckling as she walked out of the sun room to save Taylor, stopping short when she saw Alianda reaching for her daughters. She automatically held her breath as she waited to see what would happen, wondering if her daughters would accept their big brother's real mother.

Little Pym, the youngest, looked up at Alianda curiously. "Why do you look older?" she asked quietly.

Taylor did a total face palm, remembering the child had met his mother while she had still looked like a teenager. This was going to be interesting to explain, especially to a six year old. He looked at his mother to see what she would say.

Alianda hesitated for a few moments before smiling at the girl. "I appear older now, because my powers have just been restored, but this is not how I am supposed to look." She reached for the girl once more. "Soon enough, I will appear as I did before. Will that make you happier?" She glanced briefly over at Taylor, wondering what he would think when she returned to normal.

Taylor stared, confused more than ever. "Say what?"

Alianda sighed, grateful when Pym launched herself into her arms. She smirked a little when the other two girls remained on top of their big brother, ruffling Pym's hair as she spoke to Taylor and gesturing to herself with her free hand. "This is temporary, Taylor, because of having everything brought back all at once the way it was." She growled a little. "Your aunt didn't mean it, I'm sure, but this is one of the consequences of her blowing me up." She looked almost apologetic. "My normal appearance is the way I looked when we first met... around the human age of seventeen or eighteen."

Savitar grinned at Taylor from over Alianda's shoulder. "She's incredible, isn't she?"

Taylor could only stare, kind of surprised at the information.

The older two girls, PJ and Parker, were looking back and forth between the couple and their brother. The thirteen year old had already figured out the connection between the two males but asked anyway. "Who are they, Tay?"

Taylor sat up so both her and the eleven year old were sitting on his lap instead of just piled on top of him. He decided to be rather blunt with the truth. "They're my birth parents." He looked at Alianda and Savitar, knowing it was going to take him a while before he would be ready to call them mom and dad, and introduced the three girls. "This is PJ, Parker, and Pym... They're my little sisters."

Savitar grinned at the three girls, ruffling the hair of the one on Alianda's lap, and let his eyes spark with lavender fire. "You keep Taylor in line, don't you?" he asked them.

"More like they are constantly keeping me on my toes," Taylor replied, sighing tiredly. "Not to mention having to get them out of whatever trouble they create."

At this, all three of the girls giggled, knowing exactly how much trouble they put their older brother through with their mischief.

Alianda smiled, unshed tears shimmering in her bright eyes. "You have an amazing family, Taylor." She glanced around the house. "And a wonderful home." She gave the girl on her lap a gentle hug, suddenly feeling as if she was intruding, and stood up before putting her on Taylor's lap with the other two girls. She glanced at Savitar and spoke quietly. "We should go."

"When should we expect you again?" Taylor asked, unable to stop himself. It wasn't every day that you got to meet your birth parents, and he was suddenly sad at the thought of them leaving. He quickly hid those thoughts for several reasons, the most obvious one being pride. He let out a large yawn, hiding most of his sharp teeth so his parents wouldn't notice them and bug him about them, physically expressing just how tired he was from his /_**exciting**_/ day. The points of his largest set of fangs did stick out past his lips just a bit, enough that someone who was well experienced at catching the small things would spot them.

Savitar noticed the fangs and raised an eyebrow, staying silent about them otherwise. He glanced at Alianda. "Are you sure you want to leave?" he asked her quietly. He could feel the pain she was in, and it was tearing him apart no matter how much he masked it.

Alianda slowly nodded, not meeting Taylor's eyes as she glanced back at him and attempted to give him a smile. "I'm so glad I was finally able to meet you, Taylor, and your family. You're all wonderful." She knew she hadn't answered his question, but she wasn't sure what to tell him. She felt as if she was intruding on his life, and that was the last thing she wanted to happen. She looked back at Savitar, only her eyes betraying to him that she was about to lose her grip on her barely contained emotions. "Let's go," she whispered, her voice pleading.

Taylor's eyes softened as he looked at his mother. He was up and hugging her tight before most people could blink, still shocked by how much /_**smaller**_/ she was than him. He could tell she was in pain, only by the look he saw in his father's eyes. Sadly, he wasn't an empath like Chris or his adopted mother. He gently buried his nose in Alianda's bright blue hair. "Love you," he whispered quietly.

Alianda gasped softly, her arms automatically wrapping around Taylor and returning his hug. She held on to him as tight as possible, not really wanting to let him go. It was with great difficulty that she slowly pulled herself out of his arms and moved back to Savitar's side. "Love you, too," she whispered, her voice higher pitched than usual as she tried to hide her anguish. She glanced up at Savitar, this time silent as she pleaded for them to leave before she lost control.

Savitar reached out and squeezed Taylor's shoulder. "See you around, kid. Love you." He frowned a little at the unfamiliar words, hoping Taylor would understand that he really did love him even if he had difficulty saying the words. He wrapped his arms around Alianda, and the two of them disappeared.

Pym frowned, reaching up impatiently for Taylor to pick her up. "Where did they go?"

Taylor could only shrug as he picked Pym up and carried her up the stairs. He had no idea, but then again he was /really/ starting to feel the tiredness getting to him. As soon as he was on the next floor, he handed Pym to P.J. and Parker, watching as they disappeared into their room before he went into his. He barely paid any attention to anything in his room, wanting to just sleep. He barely made it to his bed before he flopped down, face first, into the black and blue bedding. He shuffled his feet until he was able to kick off his shoes before managing to get under the sheets, drifting off to sleep immediately.

After several minutes, a figure steps out from the shadows in the corner of the bedroom. The figure stepped over to the side of the boy's bed and gazed down at his currently peaceful face. It was a look that one would only see on the teenager's face every so often. Green eyes softened as a hand was gently brushed through the teenager's rich earthen colored hair. The fingers lingered there for several moments before the hand was slowly pulled away. Both hands were used to pull the blankets up over the teenager before the figure stepped away from the bed and flashed away.

~C~

Alianda's arms were wrapped tight around Savitar's shoulders as the two of them appeared on a stretch of the white sandy beach that took up a lot of Savitar's private island. She trembled still with the emotions she fought so desperately to control. "Why did we leave him?" she whispered. "Why do I want to keep him so badly when I have /_**no**_/ right?"

Savitar ran a hand through her hair as he thought of his answer. "He needs time, my love. He needs to be able to accept us as his parents even though we were never really there for him as he grew up." He was furious at what had been done to his son, having glimpsed the horrors of Taylor's past in the teen's memories. His son didn't recall the centuries he had already lived, centuries at the hands of his Aunt Azura and Uncle Noir, and for that he was grateful. "I believe it took much for him to do what he has done, and we can only congratulate him on that. He will need time and space to become completely used to the idea of having us in his life." He took a deep breath before continuing. "He will come to realize that he can come to us and talk to us about everything, but he needs us to give him time."

Alianda sighed, snuggling closer to Savitar. "Time is the one thing we have in abundance," she replied softly. Her body was still trembling as she shook her head and pushed herself up so that she was sitting on Savitar's lap. Her white eyes searched his lavender ones. "We can't just barge into his life like this, Sav. You know we can't. He has," She swallowed hard on the next words. "/_**parents**_/ and a family who love him. Who are we to think that just because he came from us, we have a right to stake any kind of claim on him?" She frowned, sensing her brother and sister calling for her, despite thinking she's dead. She clenched her teeth and buried her face against the side of Savitar's neck, trying not to give in to the sobs that wanted to wrench free from her. She, like Savitar, was completely furious at what had been done to their son... her baby... at the hands of her own brother and sister. She was determined to prove to them that she would never be okay with what they had done. She would never join them, no matter what they did to her.

Savitar rocked Alianda gently, stroking his hand up and down her back. "You don't have to stay away from Taylor, Ali. You have every right to be in his life. We both do. It's not our fault that we haven't been there, and he'll realize that soon enough." He stiffened slightly when he felt the other voices in her mind. "Don't listen to them! You're not the same being you were when you first existed! You're not /_**THEM**_/!"

Alianda flinched a little at the vehemence in Savitar's voice, but she knew deep down that he was right. She had been a horrid being until the day she had met him. Savitar had changed everything about the way she looked at the world. She used to have fun torturing and killing any being that even remotely annoyed her, but she shuddered at the mere idea of causing harm to anyone else now. Her eyes rolled back in her head as it fell back over his arm. "They're so strong," she whispered, her body shaking.

Savitar growled, standing up and carrying Alianda into his home that was a few yards down the beach. He took her into the bedroom he had every intention of sharing with her from now on and laid her carefully on the bed, smiling with relief as she began to relax. "They can't touch you in here, Ali. Our house is protected from them." He growled and narrowed his eyes. "I'll have to get to work on making sure our entire island is as well. They won't get you back. I won't let them."

Alianda smiled, a little sad, as she reached up to cup Savitar's cheek with the palm of her hand. She almost felt normal now that she could no longer hear her brother and sister, except for the immense sadness of knowing she could never allow herself to see Taylor again. "I trust you, Sav. You've always taken care of me." She smiled as he leaned over to kiss her, grabbing his shoulders and pulling him over on top of her.

Savitar pressed his body against Alianda's, molding his lips to hers as he used his powers to remove their clothes. He moaned as his hands began to explore her body, knowing it had been too long since he had allowed himself to be this happy. He had to keep reminding himself that he wasn't dreaming. He kissed along her skin while his hands rubbed every part of her he could reach. He gently nudged her legs apart, settling himself between them. He didn't want to wait any longer.

Alianda moaned in pleasure, her back arching up as Savitar slid himself deep inside of her. She wrapped her legs around his hips, immediately matching the rhythm he set for them as her fingernails scraped down his back. She hadn't felt this good in centuries, and it was only now that she realized just how much she had truly missed him. Tears pooled up in her eyes at the pleasure he was giving her, spilling over when she caught his memories of what her sister had done to him. "Oh, Sav..." she breathed, holding him tighter against her as they moved together. She closed her eyes and pushed her power into him, healing the damage that Azura had done.

Savitar gasped as he felt his body changing, realizing what Alianda was doing for him. He moaned in pleasure, moving faster against her, his breath hitching in his throat as he felt himself already falling over the edge of pleasure. He growled a little, embarrassed that it hadn't taken long for him to empty his seed deep inside of her and determined to make up for it with several nights of pleasure.

Alianda laughed softly as she heard Savitar's thoughts, her fingernails stroking up and down his back. "I intend to make you keep that thought," she whispered against his ear, already moving on him again, pulling him tighter against her. "It's been too long, my love."

~C~

Dimitri re-appeared in the large, dark, cave he called home. He knew what had gone on inside the Halliwell manor, and he was glad that he had avoided creating any further chaos with his presence. He had no doubt that Savitar would have tried to kill him if he had figured out the connection between him and Taylor, but the poison dragon also knew that the Chthonian was always suspicious. He would eventually find out and wouldn't be happy about it. He could only pray that Savitar didn't find out during any kind of … /_**awkward**_/... situation. He shook the thoughts aside as he turned into his base form and curled up on the pile of furs and pelts to go to sleep.

Dimitri's dream started off with him walking into Sanctuary. He didn't know why he dreamed of there, but he did. He was looking around for someone specific when a whistle catches his attention. He smiled and went over to a booth off to the side of the bar. He sat down before leaning over to place a soft kiss on the cheek of Taylor Halliwell. The boy was only a few years older than he was now, maybe twenty-four, and had slightly longer hair.

In Dimitri's dream, Taylor blushed a bit and said something that Dimitri couldn't make out. He grinned at Dimitri's reply, kissing him on the lips.

The scene changed as Dimitri pulled away from the kiss.

Taylor was laying beneath him on his bed of pelts, his lavender eyes dark with lust and his face flushed as he stared up at Dimitri. He was shirtless, his wrists handcuffed above his head, and was panting and sweating. His legs were wrapped around Dimitri's waist.

Dimitri groaned in pleasure. He knew it was a dream, but he couldn't help himself. Taylor was down right sexy, gorgeous, and Dimitri never trusted himself to stay in the same area with the teenager for more any kind of extended period of time. He was afraid of scaring the teenager away with the intensity of his feelings for him. He knew loving someone like himself, especially with the fact that he was a dragon, was complicated. But he also knew Taylor would understand at least a little of what he was feeling since the teenager was part dragon since an unfortunate incident between the two of them several years before. He hadn't meant for the incident to happen, but he was grateful it had. Without it, he never would have met Taylor.


	10. Chapter 10

"Taylor?" Chris's voice was thick with concern as he opened the door to his cousin's bedroom and stepped inside. "You awake yet?"

Taylor rolled over and rubbed his eyes as he sat up. "I am now." He yawned. "What do you want?"

Chris hesitated. He could feel his cousin's confusion and wanted to help him, but he knew he couldn't push him to talk if he wasn't ready. "I wanted to see how you're doing," he finally responded. "Will you be going to visit your mom soon, or are they gonna come back here?"

Taylor stared at his cousin for a few minutes, his mind trying to process what he had said. He glanced over at the alarm clock. "You woke me up at four in the morning to ask me /_**that**_/?" He flopped back down on his bed and pulled the covers over his head. "It's too damn early! And on a weekend!"

Chris shook his head, not looking directly at Taylor. His cousin had the uncanny ability to read his mind even though he wasn't telepathic. He hadn't realized how early it was when he had woken up, pale and trembling, from his dream. "Sorry," he mumbled. "Go back to sleep." He turned and headed for the door, sticking his fingers in his ears as if trying to block out a sound that only he could hear.

Taylor sat back up immediately. "You okay, Chris?" He now seemed completely awake and gave a concerned look at the fact that his cousin was putting his fingers in his ears. He recognized the sign almost immediately. It was one their Aunt Paige usually did whenever she was assigned a new and unexpected charge. He patted the bed next to him. "Come here." He spoke in a '_don't argue, just do it_' tone.

Chris sighed but moved back over to the bed. "Sorry," he said, apologizing again. "I didn't mean to wake you up."

Taylor gestured for his cousin to turn around, putting his hands on the smaller teenager's shoulder blades and started to massage them. He knew this would help with whatever Chris was feeling with his powers. "Talk to me," he instructed in a quiet but insistent voice.

Chris closed his eyes, letting the massage relax his tense muscles. "I think I have a new charge," he admitted quietly. "I've never been given one besides the Charmed Ones." He bit his lip, nervous, especially since he had a strong suspicion who his new charge was. And it confused the hell out of him as to why she would even /_**need**_/ a Whitelighter to look after her.

Taylor gave him a confused look until it clicked, like someone had turned on a light bulb in his mind. "Alianda," he whispered. He looked his cousin in the eyes and spoke a little louder, "Alianda is your new charge, isn't she?"

Chris bit his lip harder but slowly nodded. "I /_**think**_/ so," he whispered, staring at the blankets on the bed instead of at his cousin. "She was the one in the... dream... I had." He shivered lightly, still haunted by the images. "And that damn ringing that bothered Aunt Paige when she was assigned Sam is bugging the /_**hell**_/ out of me."

Taylor couldn't help it as he stifled a laugh. He didn't want to be rude, but he could remember how much of a fire cracker Sam had been to Paige over the years. He could only imagine how Alianda and Chris would be together. "Something tells me the two of you are either going to be best friends... or fire crackers to the rest of us," he said, using the term to refer to how much arguing they would do if they didn't become best friends.

Chris didn't even bother to look up, shivering again. He couldn't get the images from his dream out of his head. "Are you going to keep seeing her, Taylor?" he asked quietly.

Taylor paused in his work massaging his cousin's shoulders to stare at him. "Yes," he responded. "I plan to anyway, along with getting to know my birth father." He shrugged a little, not too excited about the latter even though he knew he would warm up to him eventually. Then, as he watched Chris continuing to shiver, he became concerned. "What did you see in your dream, Christopher?" he asked, his voice holding a tone that warned his younger cousin not to keep anything from him.

Chris swallowed hard again, closing his eyes. He wasn't sure he would be able to speak about the images, especially if he was looking at Taylor as he did it. Taking a deep breath, he finally spoke. "I was on some tropical island. It was absolutely beautiful, but something seemed really off. I was standing on the beach, staring at something on the shoreline that the waves were breaking over. I couldn't tell what it was, but then I wasn't on the beach anymore. I was still on the island, but I was further inland. There was an enormous house, and I could see your dad inside. He was trapped, doing everything he could to break free of the confines of the house. But nothing worked. I tried to orb in and get him out, but I bounced off the house and ended up on the beach again. I debated trying to find my way back to the house, but then I noticed the /_**color**_/ of the thing on the shore. I moved closer to investigate..." He broke off, quiet sobs causing his body to shake. He shook his head as if trying to get rid of what he had seen. "It was... It was... your... mom... She was /_**dead**_/, Taylor. It was /_**horrible**_/."

Taylor stared at his cousin in horror. He couldn't bare the idea of his mother dying again, but he noticed his cousin's tone of voice. The younger teenager had left something out of his revelation. He didn't do so often, but he gently prodded his cousin's mind to see what it was he wasn't saying. He got a glimpse of it, but it wasn't much. "Who was standing over her body?" His own tone of voice was deadly as he saw two shadowy figures in his cousin's dream. "Who were they, Chris?"

"I don't know," Chris whispered. "They were pure evil. One of them had black hair, and the other had white hair and blue skin. I couldn't even stand to look at them, but then they turned toward me and..." He broke off, unable to continue.

Taylor could remember something, vaguely, and he was giving himself a headache from trying to delve deeper into his cousin's memory and dreams. He hugged his cousin close. "What, Chris? What did they do?" he asked in a whisper.

"They hurt me," Chris whispered in a voice that was barely audible. "They took me to a different place and just kept hurting me." Sweat broke out on his forehead as he remembered the pain in his dream. "The pain wouldn't stop, and I woke up screaming. I'm surprised I didn't wake everyone up."

With those words, everything came rushing back to Taylor all at once, and he fell back, off the bed, screaming. He remembered all of the centuries of pain and suffering, the torture and cruelty. Everything was coming back.

Chris immediately turned around and tried to soothe his cousin, but before he could lay a hand on the older teenager a dark figure shimmered into the room and picked up Taylor. Chris recognized him as soon as he saw the vivid green eyes and black hair. "Dimitri!" He stared up in shock at the dragon, wincing as Taylor's pain mingled with his own. "What's happening to him?!"

Dimitri held the teen close and felt his heart break as the teenager, the love of his life, began to sob helplessly against his chest. His mind was unprotected, broadcasting everything he was feeling to him and why it was happening. The dragon growled at the things he was seeing. "He's remembering everything that happened to him," he answered Chris. He turned and started toward the door. There was someone he had to see immediately.

"Wait!" Chris called out, struggling to breathe against the pain. "Take me with you!" He knew the dragon would have no problem carrying them both.

Dimitri sighed before picking up the teenager by the collar and throwing him over his shoulder. "Your mother better not try to kill me this time," he muttered before he flashed them to Savitar's island. He knew exactly how to get there and walked straight up to the door, kicking his way in. "**SAVITAR! ALIANDA! ACHERON! GET YOUR ASSES DOWN HERE NOW!**" He called for the two males mostly to stop himself so he didn't go and start the Apocalypse, knowing he would need both of the other beings to stop him in his current state of anger. He set the two boys on a nearby couch, though he was reluctant to let go of Taylor, he knew he had to before he accidentally hurt him.

Chris moved immediately to take Taylor into his arms, both boys shuddering with their shared pain.

Alianda came down the stairs first, recognizing Dimitri at once despite the fact that they hadn't seen each other in centuries. She smiled wistfully as she remembered the flights they would take together with her riding on his back before she caught herself and refocused. "What's wrong, Dim? Sav will be down in a minute, but Ash isn't here."

Dimitri knew Acheron would have heard him anyway. The Atlantean would know he was serious in needing him to be there to stop him.

Acheron flashed in a few moments later, not looking happy about it.

"Dimi?" Alianda asked again, stepping forward and placing her hands lightly on her friend's chest. "What's going on?"

Dimitri growled deep in his chest, barely containing his inner rage as the dragon roared for blood. "Taylor... is remembering everything that was done to him by /_**your**_/ brother and sister!" He bit the words out like poison. "Every single thing that happened to him over all of those centuries is coming back, and Chris is feeling the back lashes of all of it." He flashed Acheron a quick, grateful, look as the Atlantean pulled him back away from Alianda.

Alianda rushed over to the couch and dropped down in front of it as Savitar came down the stairs. She barely saw Chris as she pulled her son off of the couch and onto her lap, cradling him in her arms. "Shh..." she spoke in a cooing, soothing, voice as she rocked gently back and forth. "Give them to me, Taylor. Let me take them for you."

Chris cried out as Alianda came near. The pain all three of them were suffering, mixed in with the emotions rolling off of Dimitri in waves, was too much for him. He clutched his head between his hands as he began to scream over and over. But then his pain suddenly vanished. He stopped and blinked as he looked up, not having to look up far to Taylor's hand on the skin of his wrist. His cousin was cutting him off from his empathy powers. He stared in disbelief at Taylor. The other teenager was in more pain than he was, yet he was doing everything he could to help him.

Just as suddenly, Taylor screamed in agony. His grip tightened on Chris's wrist as his teeth clenched together through another wave of memories.

Even though his empathy powers were locked away, Chris didn't need them to know that Dimitri was now going ballistic behind him as Savitar quickly made his way over to the dragon to help the Atlantean hold him down.

Without waiting for permission, knowing she was a lot stronger than her son, Alianda began to take away his memories of the time he had spent with her brother and sister and the pain they were causing him. Bloody tears fell down her cheeks as Taylor's pain began to diminish.

Chris stared in wonder at Alianda as she took away Taylor's pain, again wondering why in the world a being as powerful as she was would need a Whitelighter to protect her.

Taylor felt his pain decreasing and realized who was taking it. He immediately cut her off from it, not wanting to burden her with his pain. He also didn't want her to feel disgusted by how weak he had been to stop some of the things that had happened to him.

Acheron ground his teeth together as the dragon struggled more, damning that he couldn't see why the teenager was suffering because of their close ties to each other. "What happened, Christopher Halliwell?" he asked, demanding. He knew the teenager was part of why Taylor was remembering things now.

Alianda growled, keeping Taylor from blocking her. "Stop that," she admonished him. "I'm not looking," she stated, promising him. "I'm just taking them so they won't hurt you anymore. Let me. I don't want to do it by force."

Chris sighed, still trying to deal with his own pain as he began to remember the dream that had started everything. "I had a... dream," he whispered.

Taylor shook his head, his inherited stubbornness showing as he resisted his mother. A particular memory, extremely painful, struck him, and he screamed louder.

Savitar struggled to not only hold Dimitri down but to also keep himself from going to his son. He was more than a little surprised that the teenager was still conscious.

Alianda growled, continuing to take the memories no matter how much Taylor resisted. She knew there was no way he could stop her.

Chris groaned in pain, rocking back and forth on the couch. He was in too much pain to hear Acheron speaking to him.

Taylor shoved himself away from Alianda and groaned painfully when he hit the floor, momentarily forgetting the pain of the past before it came crashing back with a vengeance. As he had moved, he had done something very sneaky. He had taken the memories that Alianda had taken from him and pushed them far into the back of her mind, burying them as deep as possible so that no one would be able to get to them without his permission.

Taylor's groan had halted Dimitri's movements for several seconds, but then he growled louder and his eyes began to glow. It was an outward warning sign that he was about to completely lose it... that whoever he was angry with would soon be meeting an unspeakable doom. He cursed out loud as he struggled harder against the two Chthonians who held him.

Alianda stared at Taylor for several seconds, her face pinched with pain from his rejection. "I told you I wasn't seeing them," she said with a snarl to mask her pain. "Stop trying to maneuver them around in my head. You're not strong enough." Before she completely lost control in front of him, she disappeared. As soon as she was outside, the voices of Azura and Noir were back inside of her mind. In her anguish over being rejected by her son, she had completely forgotten that she wasn't protected outside of the house.

The shadows of Azura and Noir appeared on the beach, beckoning for their little sister to join them. They grinned when she complied, unable to resist them, pulling her to them and disappearing with her.

Chris screamed. "NO!" he shouted, jumping up from the couch but immediately falling over. He was already too messed up from the dream to be able to focus completely.

Taylor had felt the bitterness in her voice and couldn't help but break down into silent sobs when she disappeared off the island. He hadn't meant to make her feel rejected as his mother, only at the thought of her taking on his pain and his past. He felt like it wasn't hers to have to bear, and he still felt so protective of her despite the fact that she was so much older and more experienced than he was.

Savitar knew the moment Alianda disappeared, immediately letting go of the dragon and teleporting outside to try to find her. "ALIANDA!"

Dimitri stopped struggling completely at the sight of Taylor crying. His heart literally felt as if it had been torn from his chest and shredded to pieces. In the blink of an eye, he was kneeling next to the teenager and holding him against his chest. He also sent Chris straight to sleep, knowing he wouldn't be able to deal with both teens at once. As he held the lavender-eyed young man in his arms, he managed to glimpse a few things that seemed to be burning Taylor's mind like a hot brand. One of them stood out more than the rest, and Dimitri immediately looked up to the only one in the room that he knew could help. "/_**DO SOMETHING**_/!"

Chris was in a peaceful sleep of just black. Because he was safe inside of Savitar's house, nothing was able to get to him in his dreams the way they had before.

Acheron stepped quickly over to Chris, dropping down onto the couch and laying the palm of his hand on Chris's forehead. He closed his eyes as he searched through the boy's memories to find the dream that had started everything. He growled ferociously as the images played across his mind. Then he glanced up at Savitar and Dimitri, shock registering on his face. "The boy has been assigned to protect Alianda /_**and**_/ Taylor. No wonder he's reacting so much to their pain."

Dimitri bit down on his lip as his hold on Taylor tightened a little. "There's one other thing you should probably see." With that said, the dragon reached out and placed his hand on the Atlantean's arm to show him the memory he had seen. Dimitri, like Savitar, was one of the /_**very**_/ few people who knew all about Acheron's past, and the dragon had decided that he would be the one who would understand what he had seen the most.

The image started out in a dark room with Taylor black and blue with bruises from previous beatings. The teenager was handcuffed down to the bed he was on by his wrists and ankles. Taylor froze stiff when Azura walked into the room, a burning look in her eyes as she sat down on the bed beside him and licked her lips as the teenager tried and failed to move away from her. The next three hours had been a pure and living hell for Taylor.

Dimitri feared that Taylor might never recover from what he had experienced that day. The memory was burned so deep into Taylor's mind that the dragon was worried about permanent damage now that the teenager remembered /_**everything**_/ that had been done to him. For the benefit of Savitar, Taylor's father, Dimitri spoke out loud as he saw the look that flashed across Acheron's face. "Taylor has been raped by Azura and Noir."

Acheron growled, clenching his hands into tight fists. He looked up at Dimitri as he worked to control his breathing. "I can take the memory from him without hurting him, but you'll have to convince him to let me do it."

Savitar ran his hand through his hair, pacing the floor. He wanted nothing more than to chase after Alianda, but he knew none of them were allowed into Azmodea. For /_**any**_/ reason. Trying to distract himself until they figured out what to do, he stared at Chris. "What can we do about him? What the /hell/ are his bosses thinking, assigning him to Alianda and Taylor?"

Dimitri answered Savitar first, giving Acheron a chance to calm himself down. "They can be real idiots, you know that." He recalled when they tried to come after him, and he simply told them to fuck off. The dragon turned back to the Atlantean and sighed. "With his old man's stubbornness and his mom's too kind of a heart, there's next to a zero chance on /that/ happening while he's still conscious."

"Then knock him the fuck out!" Acheron replied, still seething and trying to regain control of himself.

Chris groaned as he began to stir.

Dimitri nodded, completely understanding Acheron's anger, before using his powers to knock Taylor unconscious. He knew it was better that he was so there wouldn't be much of a chance of him retaliating.

Taylor's eyes closed as he collapsed against Dimitri's chest, his breathing evening out and his body slowly relaxing as he lost consciousness.

The poison-eyed immortal gently handed Taylor to Acheron as he stood and faced the older version of the suffering teenager. "We need to go visit Thorn. He'll want to know what happened and get in on this trip of vengeance."

Savitar didn't speak as he put one hand on Dimitri's shoulder to take them both to Thorn's castle.

Chris growled as he suddenly woke up completely. He launched himself across the room and wrapped his hands around both Savitar's and Dimitri's arms just as the two men were disappearing. The action took him with them. He groaned, stumbling, as the three of them reappeared inside of Thorn's castle.


End file.
